DIARY, 


FROM 


MARCH  4,  1861,  TO  NOVEMBER  12,  1862, 


ADAM  GUROWSKI. 


BOSTON: 
LEE     AND      SHEPARD, 

SCCCES80KS  TO  PHILLIPS,  SIMPSON  It  CO. 

1862. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1862,  by 
LEE    AND    SHEPARD, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts 


TO 

THE  WIDOWED  WIVES,  THE  BEREAVED  MOTHERS,  SISTERS, 
SWEETHEARTS,   AND   ORPHANS 

IN 
THE    LOYAL    STATES, 


On  doit  a  son  pays  sa  fortune,  sa  vie,  mais  avant 
tout  la  Verite. 

IN  this  Diary  I  recorded  what  I  heard  and  saw  myself,  and 
what  I  heard  from  others,  on  whose  veracity  I  can  implicitly 
rely. 

I  recorded  impressions  as  immediately  as  I  felt  them.  A 
life  almost  wholly  spent  in  the  tempests  and  among  the  break 
ers  of  our  times  has  taught  me  that  the  first  impressions  are 
the  purest  and  the  best. 

If  they  ever  peruse  these  pages,  my  friends  and  acquaint 
ances  will  find  therein  what,  during  these  horrible  national 
trials,  was  a  subject  of  our  confidential  conversations  and  dis 
cussions,  what  in  letters  and  by  mouth  was  a  subject  of  re 
peated  forebodings  and  warnings.  Perhaps  these  pages  may 
in  some  way  explain  a  phenomenon  almost  unexampled  in  his 
tory, —  that  twenty  millions  of  people,  brave,  highly  intelli 
gent,  and  mastering  all  the  wealth  of  modern  civilization, 
were,  if  not  virtually  overpowered,  at  least  so  long  kept  at 

bay  by  about  five  millions  of  rebels. 

GUKOWSKI. 

"WASHINGTON,  NOVEMBER,  18C2. 


CONTENTS. 


MARCH,  1861. 


Inauguration  day  — The  message  —  Scott  watching-  at  the  door  of  the 
Union  — The  Cabinet  born  — The  Seward  and  Chase  struggle  — The 
New  York  radicals  triumph  —  The  treason  spreads  — The  Cabinet  pays 
old  party  debts  —  The  diplomats  confounded  —  Poor  Senators  ! —  Sum- 
ner  is  like  a  hare  tracked  by  hounds  —  Chase  in  favor  of  recognizing 
the  revolted  States  —  Blunted  axes  — Blair  demands  action,  brave  fel 
low!— The  slave-drivers  —  The  month  of  March  closes  — No  fore 
sight  !  no  foresight ! 13 


APRIL,   1861. 


Seward  parleying  with  the  rebel  commissioners  —  Corcoran' s  dinner  — 
The  crime  in  full  blast !  — 75,000  men  called  for  — Massachusetts  takes 
the  lead  — Baltimore  — Defence  of  Washington  —  Blockade  discus  scd 
—  France  our  friend,  not  England —  Warning  to  the  President  —  Vir 
ginia  secedes  —  Lincoln  warned  again  —  Seward  says  it  will  all  blow 
over  in  sixty  to  ninety  days  —  Charles  F.  Adams — The  administra 
tion  undecided ;  the  people  alone  inspired— Slavery  must  perish  !  — 
The  Fabian  policy  — The  Blairs  —  Strange  conduct  of  Scott— Lord 

Lyons  — Secret  agent  to  Canada, 22 

3 


IV  CONTENTS. 


MAY,  1861. 

The  administration  tossed  by  expedients  —  Seward  to  Dayton  —  Spread- 
eagleism  —  One  phasis  of  the  American  Union  finished  —  The  fuss 
about  Russell  —  Pressure  on  the  administration  increases  —  Seward, 
Wickoff,  and  the  Herald  —  Lord  Lyons  menaced  with  passports  —  The 
splendid  Northern  army  —  The  administration  not  up  to  the  occasion 
—  The  new  men— Andrew,  Wads  worth,  Boutwell,  Noyes,  Wade, 
Trumbull,  Walcott,  King,  Chandler,  Wilson  — Lyon  jumps  over  for 
mulas  —  Governor  Banks  needed  —  Butler  takes  Baltimore  with  two 
regiments — News  from  England  —  The  "belligerent"  question  — 
Butler  and  Scott—  Seward  and  the  diplomats  —  "  What  a  Merlin  1 "  — 
"  France  not  bigger  than  New  York!  "  —  Virginia  invaded—  Murder 
of  Ellsworth  — Harpies  at  the  White  House, 37 


JUNE,  1861. 

Butler  emancipates  slaves  —  The  army  not  organized — Promenades  — 
The  blockade  —  Louis  Napoleon  —  Scott  all  in  all  —  Strategy !  —  Gun 
contracts  —  The  diplomats  — Masked  batteries  —  Seward  writes  for 
"  bunkum  "  —  Big  Bethel  —  The  Dayton  letter  —  Instructions  to  Mr. 
Adams, 50 


JULY,  1861. 


The  Evening  Post — The  message  —  The  administration  caught  napping 
—  McDowell  — Congress  slowly  feels  its  way— Seward's  great  facil 
ity  of  labor  — Not  a  Know-Nothing—Prophesies  a  speedy  end— Car 
ried  away  by  his  imagination  — Says  "secession is  over"  — Hopeful 
views  —  Politeness  of  the  State  department  —  Scott  carries  on  the 


CONTENTS.  V 

campaign  from  bis  sleeping  room —  Bull  Run  —  Rout  —  Panic  —  "  Mal 
ediction!  Malediction!"  —  Not  a  manly  word  in  Congress!  —  Abuse 
of  tbe  soldiers  — McClcllan  sent  for  — Young  blood  — Gen.  Wads- 
worth— Poor  McDowell!  — Scott  responsible  — Plan  of  reorganiza 
tion —  Let  McClcllan  beware  of  routine, GO 


AUGUST,   1861. 


The  truth  about  Bull  Run  — The  press  staggers  — The  Blairs  alone  firm 
—  Scott's  military  character  —  Seward  —  Mr.  Lincoln  reads  the  Her 
ald —  The  ubiquitous  lobbyist  —  Intervention  —  Congress  adjourns  — 
The  administration  waits  for  something  to  turn  up  —  Wade  —  Lyon  is 
killed  —  Russell  and  his  shadow  —  The  Yankees  take  the  loan  —  Bra 
vo,  Yankees!  — McClellan  works  hard  — Prince  Napoleon  — Manas- 
sas  fortifications  a  humbug  —Mr.  Scward  improves  —  Old  Whigism  — 
McClcllan's  powers  enlarged— Jeff.  Davis  makes  history —  Fremont 
emancipates  in  Missouri  —  The  Cabinet, 78 


SEPTEMBER,  1861. 


What  will  McClellan  do ?  — Fremont  disavowed— The  Blairs  not  in 
fault —  Fremont  ignorant  and  a  bungler  —  Conspiracy  to  destroy  him 
—  Seward  rather  on  his  side-  McClellan's  staff —  A  Marcy  will  not 
do  !  —McClcllan  publishes  a  slave-catching  order  — The  people  move 
onward— Mr.  Seward  again— West  Point  — The  Washington  de 
fences  —  What  a  Russian  officer  thought  of  them  —  Oh,  for  battles  !  — 
Fremont  wishes  to  attack  Memphis  ;  a  bold  move  !  —  Seward's  influ 
ence  over  Lincoln  — The  people  for  Fremont  —Col.  Romanoff's  opin 
ion  of  the  generals  —  McClcllan  refuses  to  move  —  Manoeuvrings — 
The  people  uneasy  — The  staff  —  The  Orleans  — Brave  boys!  — The 
Potomac  closed  —  Oh,  poor  nation  !  —  Mexico  —  McClellau  and 
Scott, 92 


VI  CONTENTS. 


OCTOBER,   1861. 


Experiments   on  the  people's   life-blood  —  McClcllan's   uniform  — The 
army  fit  to  move  —  The  rebels  treat  us  like  children  —  We  lose  time 

—  Everything  is  defensive  —  The   starvation  theory— The  anaconda 

—  First  interview  with  McClellan  — Impressions  of  him  — His  dis 
trust  of  the  volunteers  —  Not  a  Napoleon  nor  a  Garibaldi  —  Mason 
and  Slidell  —  Seward  admonishes  Adams  —  Fremont  goes  overboard 

—  The  pro-slavery  party  triumph— The  collateral  missions  to  Europe 

—  Peace  impossible  — Every  Southern  gentleman  is  a  pirate  —  When 
will  we  deal  blows?  — Inertia!  inertia! 104 


NOVEMBER,    1861. 

Ball's  Bluff—  Whitewashing  —  "  Victoria!  Old  Scott  gone  overboard!  " 

—  His  fatal  influence  —  His  conceit  —  Cameron  —  Intervention  —  More 
reviews—  "Weed,    Everett,    Hughes  —  Gov.    Andrew  —  Boutwell  — 
Mason  and  Slidell  caught  —  Lincoln  frightened  by  the  South  Caro 
lina  success  —  Waits  unnoticed  in  McClellan's  library  —  Gen.  Thomas 

—  Traitors  and  pedants  —  The  Virginia  campaign  —  West  Point  — 
McClellan's    speciality  —  When    will   they   begin   to    see    through 
him  ? 115 


DECEMBER,    1861. 

The  message  —  Emancipation  —  State  papers  published  —  Curtis  Noyes  — 
Greelcy  not  fit  for  Senator  — Generalship  all  on  the  rebel  side  — The 
South  and  the  North  —  The  sensationists  —  The  new  idol  will  cost  the 
people  their  life-blood !  —  The  Blairs  —  Poor  Lincoln !  —  The  Trent 
affair  —  Scott  home  again  —  The  war  investigation  committee  —  Mr. 
Mercier, 129 


CONTENTS,  VII 


JANUARY,    1862. 

The  year  1861  ends  badly  —  European  defenders  of  slavery  —  Secession 
lies  — Jeremy    Diddlers  — Sensation-seekers —Despotic    tendencies 

—  Atomistic  Torquemadas —  Congress  chained  by  formulas  —  Burn- 
side's  expedition  a  sign  of  life  —  Will  this  McClcllan  ever  advance  ?  — 
Mr.  Adams  unhorsed  —  He  packs  his  trunks  —  Bad  blankets  —  Aus 
tria,  Prussia,  and  Russia  — The  West  Point  nursery —  McClcllan  a 
greater  mistake  than  Scott  —  Tracks  to  the  White  House  —  European 
stories  about  Mr.  Lincoln —  The  English  ignorami —  The  slaveholder 
a  scarcely  varnished   savage  —  Jeff.  Davis  —  "  Beaurcgard  frightens 
us  —  McClcllan  rocks  his  baby  "  —  Fancy  army  equipment  —  McClel- 
lan  and  his  chief  of  staff  sick  in  bed  —  "No  satirist  could  invent  such 
things  "  —  Stanton  in  the  Cabinet  —  "  This  Stanton  is  the  people  "  — 
Fremont  —  Weed  —  The  English  will  not  be  humbugged  —  Dayton  in 
a  fret  —  Beaufort  —  The  investigating  committee  condemn  McClellan 

—  Lincoln  in  the  clutches  of  Seward  and  Blair — Banks  begs  for  guns 
and  cavalry  in  vain  —  The  people  will  awake  !  —  The  question  of  race 

—  Agassiz, 137 


FEBRUARY,    1862. 

Drifting  — The  English  blue  book  — Lord  John  could  not  act  differently 

—  Palmer ston  the  great  European  fuss-maker — Mr.  Seward's  "two 
pickled  rods  "  for  England  —  Lord  Lyons  —  His  pathway  strewn  with 
broken  glass  —  Gen.  Stone  arrested  —  Sumner's  resolutions  infuse  a 
new  spirit  in  the  Constitution  — Mr.  Seward  beyond  salvation— lie 
works  to  save  slavery  —  Weed  has  ruined  him  —  The  New  York  press 

—  "  Poor  Tribune  "  —  The  Evening  Post —  The  Blairs  — Illusions  dis 
pelled—  «  All  quiet  on  the  Potomac" —The  London  papers  — Quill- 
heroes  can  be  bought  for  a  dinner  —  French  opinion  —  Superhuman 
efforts  to  save  slavery  — It  is  doomed!  — "All  you  worshippers  of 
darkness  cannot  save  it!"  — The  Hutchinsons  —  Corporal  Adams  — 
Victories  in  the  West  —  Stanton  the  man  !  —  Strategy  (hear ! ) .  .  .151 


VHI  CONTENTS. 


MARCH,  1862. 

The  Africo-Americans  —  Fremont  —  The  Orleans  — Confiscation  — Amer 
ican  nepotism  — The  Merrimac  —  Wooden  guns  — Oh  shame!  — Gen. 
Wadsworth  — The  rats  have  the  best  of  Stanton  — McClellan  goes  to 
Fortress  Monroe— Utter  imbecility  — The  embarkation  —  McClellan  a 
turtle  —  He  will  stick  in  the  marshes  —  Louis  Napoleon  behaves  nobly 
—  So  does  Mr.  Mercier  —  Queen  Victoria  for  freedom  — The  great 
strategian  —  Senator  Sumner  and  the  French  minister  —  Archbishop 
Hughes  —  His  diplomatic  activity  not  worth  the  postage  on  his  cor 
respondence  —  Alberoni-Seward  —  Love's  labor  lost, 105 


APRIL,  1862. 

Immense  power  of  the  President  —  Mr.  Seward's  Egeria  —  Programme 
of  peace  —  The  belligerent  question  —  Roebucks  and  Gregories  scuma 

—  Running  the  blockade  —  Weed  and  Seward  take  clouds  for  camels 

—  Uncle  Sam's  pockets  —  Manhood,  not  money,  the  sinews  of  war  — 
Colonization  schemes  —  Senator  Doolittle  —  Coal  mine  speculation  — 
Washington  too  near  the  seat  of  war  —  Blair  demands  the  return  of  a 
fugitive  slave  woman—  Slavery  is  Mr.  Lincoln's  "  mammy"  —Uc  will 
not  destroy  her — Victories  in  the  West  —  The  brave  navy  —  McClel 
lan  subsides  in  mud  before  Yorktown  —  Telegraphs  for  more  men  — 
God  will  be  tired  out !  —  Great  strength  of  the  people  —  Emancipa 
tion  in  the  District  —  Wade's  speech  —  He  is  a  monolith  —  Chase  and 
Seward  — N.  Y.  Times  — The  Rothschilds  — Army  movements  and 
plans, ISO 


MAY,JL862 


Capture  of  New  Orleans  —  The  second  siege  of  Troy  —  Mr.  Seward  lights 
his  lantern  to  search  for  the  Union-saving  party  —  Subserviency  to 


CONTENTS.  IX 

power  —  Vitality  of   the  people  —  Yorktown  evacuated  —  Battle  of 
Willlamsburg —  Great  bayonet    charge!  —  Heintzelman  arid  Hooker 

—  McClcllau  telegraphs  that  the  enemy  outnumber  him  —  The  terri 
ble  enemy  evacuate  Williamsburg  —  The  track  of  truth  begins  to  be 
lost  —  Oh  Napoleon !  —  Oh  spirit  of  Berthier  !  —  Dayton  not  in  favor 

—  Events  are  too  rapid  for  Lincoln  — His  integrity  —  Too  tender  of 
men's  feelings  —  Hallcck  —  Ten  thousand  men  disabled  by  disease  — 
The  Bishop  of  Orleans  —  The  rebels  retreat  without  the  knowledge 
of  McNapoleon  —  Hunter's  proclamation  —  Too  noble  for  Mr.  Lincoln 

—  McClcllan  again  subsides  in  mud  —  Jackson  defeats  Banks,  who 
makes  a  masterly  retreat  — Bravo,  Banks  !  —  The  aulic  council  fright 
ened  —  Gov.  Andrew's  letter  —  Sigel  —  English  opinion  —  Mr.  Mill  — 
YoungEuropa  —  Young  Germany  —  Corinth  evacuated  —  Oh,  gener 
alship  I —  McDowell  grimly  persecuted  by  bad  luck, 198 


JUNE,  1862. 


Diplomatic  circulars  seasoned  by  stories  —  Battle  before  Richmond  — 
Casey's  division  disgraced  — McClellan  afterwards  confesses  ho 
was  misinformed— Fair  Oaks  — "  Nobody  is  hurt,  only  the  bleeding 
people  "  —  Fremont  disobeys  orders  —  N.  Y.  Times,  World,  and  Her 
ald,  opinion-poisoning  sheets  —  Napoleon  never  visible  before  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  —  Hooker  and  the  other  fighters  soldered 
to  the  mud  —  Senator  Sumncr  shows  the  practical  side  of  his  intel 
lect—  "  Slavery  a  big  job!  "  — McClellan  sends  for  mortars  —  Defend 
ers  of  slavery  in  Congress  worse  than  the  rebels  —  Wooden  guns 
and  cotton  sentries  at  Corinth  —  The  navy  is  glorious  —  Brave  old 
Gideon  Welles  !  —  July  4th  to  be  celebrated  in  Richmond !  —  Coloni 
zation  again  —  Justice  to  France  —  New  regiments  —  The  people  sub 
lime  !  —  Congress  —  Lincoln  visits  Scott  —  McDowell  —  Pope  —  Dis 
loyalty  in  the  departments, 218 


CONTENTS. 


JULY,    1862. 

Intervention  —  The  cursed  fields  of  the  Chickahominy—  Titanic  fight 
ings,  but  no  generalship  —  McClellan  the  first  to  reach  James  river 
—  The  Orleans  leave  —  July  4th,  the  gloomiest  since  the  birth  of  the 
republic  — Not  reinforcements,  but  brains,  wanted;  and  brains  not 
transferable !  —  The  people  run  to  the  rescue  —  Rebel  tactics  —  Lincoln 
does  not  sacrifice  Stanton  —  McClellan  not  the  greatest  culprit  — 
Stanton  a  true  statesman  —  The  President  goes  to  James  river —  The 
Union  as  it  was,  a  throttling  nightmare!  —  A  man  needed!  —  Con 
fiscation  bill  signed  —  Congress  adjourned  —  Mr.  Dicey  —  Halleck,  the 
American  Carnot  —  Lincoln  tries  to  neutralize  the  confiscation  bill  — 
Guerillas  spread  like  locusts, 233 


AUGUST,    1862. 


Emancipation  —  The  President's  hand  falls  back  —  Weed  sent  for — Gen. 
"VVadsworth  —  The  new  levies  —  The  Africo- Americans  not  called  for 

—  Let  every  Northern  man  be  shot  rather  !  —  End  of  the  Peninsula 
campaign  —  Fifty  or  sixty  thousand  dead  —  Who  is  responsible?  — 
The  army  saved  —  Lincoln  and  McClellan  — The  President  and  the 
Africo-Americans  —  An  Eden  in  Chiriqui  —  Greeley  —  The  old  lion 
begins  to  awake  —  Mr.  Lincoln   tells  stories  —  The  rebels  take  the 
offensive  —  European  opinion  —  McClellan's  army  landed  —  Roebuck 

—  Halleck— Butler's  mistakes  — Hunter  recalled  —  Terrible  fighting 
at  Manas sas — Pope  cuts    his  way  through  —  Reinforcements  slow 
incoming — McClellan  reduced  in  command, 245 


SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

Consummatum  est !  —Will  the  outraged  people  avenge  itself?  — McClel 
lan  satisfies  the  President  —  After  a  year  !  —  The  truth  will  be  throt 
tled— Public  opinion  in  Europe  begins  to  abandon  us  — The  country 


CONTENTS.  XI 

inarching  to  its  tonjb  —  Hooker,  Kearney,  Heintzelman,  Sigel,  brave 
and  true  men — Supremacy  of  mind  over  matter  —  Stanton  the  last 
Roman  —  Inauguration  of  the  pretorian  regime  —  Pope  accuses  three 
generals — Investigation  prevented  by  McClellan — McDowell  sacri 
ficed  —  The  country  inundated  with  lies  —  The  demoralized  army  de 
clares  for  McClellan  —  The  pretorians  will  soon  finish  with  liberty  — 
Wilkes  sent  to  the  West  Indian  waters  —  Russia — Mediation  —  In 
vasion  of  Maryland  — Strange  story  about  Stanton— Ilichmond  never 
invested— McClellan  in  search  of  the  enemy  — Thirty  miles  in  six 
days  —  The  telegrams  —  Wadsworth  —  Capitulation  of  Harper's 
Ferry*- Five  days'  fighting  —  Brave  Hooker  wounded  —  Xo  results 

—  No  reports  from  McClellan  — Tactics  of  the  Maryland  campaign  — 
Nobody    hurt   in    the  staff— Charmed   lives  —  Wadsworth,    Judge 
Conway,  Wade,  Boutwcll,  Andrew —  This  most  intelligent  people  be 
come  the  laughing-stock  of  the  world !  —  The  proclamation  of  eman 
cipation  —  Scward  to  the   Paisley  Association  —  Future  complica 
tions—If  Hooker   had  not    been  wounded!  — The    military  situa 
tion  —  Sigcl   persecuted  by  West   Point  —  Three    cheers    for   the 
carriage  and  six !  —  How  the  great  captain  was  to  catch  the  rebel  army 

—  Interview  with  the  Chicago  deputation  — Winter  quarters  — The 
conspiracy  against  Sigel  —  Numbers  of  the  rebel  army  —  Letters  of 
marque,    - 258 


OCTOBER,    1862. 


Costly  infatuation  —  The  do-nothing  strategy  —  Cavalry  on  lame  horses 
—  Bayonet  charges  —  Antietam  —  Effect  of  the  Proclamation  —  Disas 
ters  in  the  West  — The  Abolitionists  not  originally  hostile  to  McClel 
lan— Helplessness  in  the  War  Department  —  Dcvotedness  of  the 
people  —  McClellan  and  the  proclamation  —  Wilkes  —  Colonel  Key  — 
Routine  engineers  —  Ilebel  raid  into  Pennsylvania  —  Stanton's  sin 
cerity—Oh,  unfighting  strategians  —  The  administration  a  success 
-De  (justibus  —  Stuart's  raid  — West  Point  — St.  Domingo  — The 
President's  letter  to  McClellan  —  Broad  church  —  The  elections  — 
The  Republican  party  gone  —  The  remedy  at  the  polls  —  McClellan 


XII  CONTENTS. 

wants  to  be  relieved  —  Mediation  —  Compromise — The  rhetors  —  The 
optimists  — The  foreigners  —  Scott  and  Buchanan —  Gladstone  —  For 
eign  opinion  and  action  —  Both  the  extremes  to  be  put  down  —  Spain 
—  Fremont's  campaign  against  Jackson  —  Seward's  circular  —  Gene 
ral  Scott's  gift  — "Oh,  could  I  go  to  a  camp  !"  — McClellan  crosses 
the  Potomac  —  Prays  for  rain  —  Fevers  decimate  the  regiments  — 
Martindale  and  Fit-z  John  Porter  —  The  political  balance  to  be  pre 
served  —  New  regiments  —  O  poor  country  I 288 


NOVEMBER,    1862. 


Empty  rhetoric  — The  future  dark  and  terrible  — Wads  worth  defeated  — 
The  oflioial  bunglers  blast  everything  they  touch  —  Great  and  holy 
day !  McClellan  gone  overboard !  —  The  planters  —  Burnside— McClel 
lan  nominated  for  President  —  Awful  events  approaching  —  Dictator 
ship  dawns  on  the  horizon  —  The  catastrophe, 311 


DI  AE  Y 


MARCH,  1861. 

Inauguration  day  — The  message— Scott  watching  at  the  door  of  the 
Union  —  The  Cabinet  born  —  The  Seward  and  Chase  struggle  —  The 
New  York  radicals  triumph  —  The  treason  spreads  — The  Cabinet  pays 
old  party  debts  —  The  diplomats  confounded  —  Poor  Senators  !—  Sum- 
ner  is  like  a  hare  tracked  by  hounds  —  Chase  in  favor  of  recognizing 
the  revolted  States  —  Blunted  axes  — Blair  demands  action,  brave  fel 
low!— The  slave-drivers  —  The  month  of  March  closes  — No  fore 
sight  !  no  foresight  1 

FOR  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  assisted  at  the 
simplest  and  grandest  spectacle  —  the  inauguration 
of  a  President.  Lincoln's  message  good,  according 
to  circumstances,  but  not  conclusive ;  it  is  not  posi 
tive  ;  it  discusses  questions,  but  avoids  to  assert. 
May  his  mind  not  be  altogether  of  the  same  kind. 
Events  will  want  and  demand  more  positiveness 
and  action  than  the  message  contains  assertions. 
The  immense  majority  around  me  seems  to  be  satis 
fied.  Well,  well ;  I  wait,  and  prefer  to  judge  and  to 
admire  when  actions  will  speak. 

I  am  sure  that  a  great  drama  will  be  played, 
equal  to  any  one  known  in  history,  and  that  the 
insurrection  of  the  slave-drivers  will  not  end  in 

13 


14      "  5  5*  *  ^  »?  *  f : .  :  •  b  i  A*R  Y.  [MARCH,  isei. 

smoke.  So  I  now  decide  to  keep  a  diary  in  my  own 
way.  I  scarcely  know  any  of  those  men  who  are 
considered  as  leaders ;  the  more  interesting  to  ob 
serve  them,  to  analyze  their  mettle,  their  actions. 
Tin's  insurrection  may  turn  very  complicated;  if 
so,  it  must  generate  more  than  one  revolutionary 
manifestation.  What  will  be  its  march  —  what 
stages  ?  Curious  ;  perhaps  it  may  turn  out  more  in 
teresting  than  anything  since  that  great  renovation 
of  humanity  by  the  great  French  Revolution. 

The  old,  brave  warrior,  Scott,  watched  at  the  door 
of  the  Union  ;  his  shadow  made  the  infamous  rats 
tremble  and  crawl  off,  and  so  Scott  transmitted  to 
Lincoln  what  was  and  could  be  saved  during  the 
treachery  of  Buchanan. 

By  the  most  propitious  accident,  I  assisted  at  the 
throes  among  which  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet  was  born. 
They  were  very  painful,  but  of  the  highest  interest 
for  me,  and  I  suppose  for  others.  I  participated 
some  little  therein. 

A  pledge  bound  Mr.  Lincoln  to  make  Mr.  Seward 
his  Secretary  of  State.  The  radical  and  the  puri 
tanic  elements  in  the  Republican  party  were  terribly 
scared.  His  speeches,  or  rather  demeanor  and  re 
peated  utterances  since  the  opening  of  the  Congress, 
his  influence  on  Mr.  Adams,  who,  under  Seward's 
inspiration,  made  his  speech  de  lana  caprina,  and 
voted  for  compromises  and  concessions,  —  all  this 
spread  and  fortified  the  general  and  firm  belief  that 
Mr.  Seward  was  ready  to  give  up  many  from  among 
the  cardinal  articles  of  the  Republican  creed  of 


MAKCH,  1861.]  DIARY.  15 

* 

which  he  was  one  of  the  most  ardent  apostles. 
They,  the  Republicans,  speak  of  him  in  a  way  to 
remind  me  of  the  dictum,  "  omnia  serviliter  pro 
dominations"  as  they  accuse  him  now  of  subser 
viency  to  the  slave  power.  The  radical  and  puritan 
Republicans  likewise  dread  him  on  account  of  his 
close  intimacy  with  a  Thurlow  Weed,  a  Mattcson, 
and  with  similar  not  over-cautious  —  as  they  call 
them  —  lobbyists. 

Some  days  previous  to  the  inauguration,  Mr. 
Seward  brought  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  Senate  floor,  of 
course  on  the  Republican  side  ;  but  soon  Mr.  Seward 
was  busily  running  among  Democrats,  begging  them 
to  be  introduced  to  Lincoln.  It  was  a  saddening, 
humiliating,  and  revolting  sight  for  the  galleries, 
where  I  was.  Criminal  as  is  Mason,  for  a  minute 
I  got  reconciled  to  him  for  the  scowl  of  horror  and 
contempt  with  which  he  shook  his  head  at  Seward. 
The  whole  humiliating  proceeding  foreshadowed  the 
future  policy.  Only  two  or  three  Democratic  Sena 
tors  were  moved  by  Seward's  humble  entreaties. 
The  criminal  Mason  has  shown  true  manhood. 

The  first  attempt  of  sincere  Republicans  was  to 
persuade  Lincoln  to  break  his  connection  with  Sew 
ard.  This  failed.  To  neutralize  what  was  con 
sidered  quickly  to  become  a  baneful  influence  in 
Mr.  Lincoln's  councils,  the  Republicans  united  on 
Gov.  Chase.  This  Seward  opposed  with  all  his 
might.  Mr.  Lincoln  wavered,  hesitated,  and  was 
bending  rather  towards  Mr.  Seward.  The  struggle 
was  terrific,  lasted  several  days,  when  Chase  was 


16  DIARY.  [MARCH,  1861. 

• 

finally  and  triumphantly  forced  into  the  Cabinet. 
It  was  necessary  not  to  leave  him  there  alone  against 
Seward,  and  perhaps  Bates,  the  old  cunning  Whig. 
Again  terrible  opposition  by  Seward,  but  it  was 
overcome  by  the  radicals  in  the  House,  in  the  Sen 
ate,  and  outside  of  Congress  by  such  men  as  Curtis, 
Noyes,  J.  S.  Wadsworth,  Opdyke,  Barney,  &c.,  &c., 
and  Blair  was  brought  in.  Cameron  was  variously 
opposed,  but  wished  to  be  in  by  Seward;  Welles 
was  from  the  start  considered  sound  and  safe  ia 
every  respect ;  Smith  was  considered  a  Seward  man. 

From  what  I  witnessed  of  Cabinet-making  in  Eu 
rope,  above  all  in  France  under  Louis  Philippe,  I  do 
not  forebode  anything  good  in  the  coming-on  shocks 
and  eruptions,  and  I  am  sure  these  must  come. 
This  Cabinet  as  it  stands  is  not  a  fusion  of  various 
shadowings  of  a  party,  but  it  is  a  violent  mixing  or 
putting  together  of  inimical  and  repulsive  forces, 
which,  if  they  do  not  devour,  at  the  best  will  neu 
tralize  each  other. 

Senator  Wilson  answered  Douglass  in  the  Senate, 
that  "  when  the  Republican  party  took  the  power, 
treason  was  in  the  army,  in  the  navy,  in  the  admin 
istration,"  etc.  Dreadful,  but  true  assertion.  It  is 
to  be  seen  how  the  administration  will  act  to  coun 
teract  this  ramified  treason. 

What  a  run,  a  race  for  offices.  This  spectacle 
likewise  new  to  me. 

The  Cabinet  Ministers,  or,  as  they  call  them  here, 
the  Secretaries,  have  old  party  debts  to  pay,  old 
sores  to  avenge  or  to  heal,  and  all  this  by  distributing 


MARCH,  1861.  J  DIARY.  17 

offices,  or  by  what  they  call  it  here  —  patronage. 
Through  patronage  and  offices  everybody  is  to  serve 
his  friends  and  his  party,  and  to  secure  his  political 
position.  Some  of  the  party  leaders  seem  to  me 
similar  to  children  enjoying  a  long-expected  and 
ardently  wishcd-for  toy.  Some  of  the  leaders  are 
as  generals  who  abandon  the  troops  in  a  campaign, 
and  take  to  travel  in  foreign  parts.  Most  of  them 
act  as  if  they  were  sure  that  the  battle  is  over.  It 
begins  only,  but  nobody,  or  at  least  very  few  of  the 
interested,  seem  to  admit  that  the  country  is  on  fire, 
that  a  terrible  struggle  begins.  (Wrote  in  this 
sense  an  article  for  the  National  Intelligencer  ;  inser 
tion  refused.)  They,  the  leaders,  look  to  create 
engines  for  their  own  political  security,  but  no  one 
seems  to  look  over  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  to  the 
terrible  and  with  lightning-like  velocity  spreading 
fire  of  hellish  treason. 

The  diplomats  utterly  upset,  confused,  and  do  not 
know  what  god  to  worship.  All  their  associations 
were  with  Southerners,  now  traitors.  In  Southern 
talk,  or  in  that  of  treacherous  Northern  Democrats, 
the  diplomats  learned  what  they  know  about  this 
country.  Not  one  of  them  is  familiar,  is  acquainted 
with  the  genuine  people  of  the  North  ;  with  its  true, 
noble,  grand,  and  pure  character.  It  is  for  them  a 
terra  incognita,  as  is  the  moon.  The  little  they 
know  of  the  North  is  the  few  money  or  cotton  bags 
of  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia, —  these  would-be 
betters,  these  dinner-givers,  and  whist-players.  The 
2 


18  DIARY.  [MAECH,  1861. 

diplomats  consider  Seward  as  the  essence  of  North 
ern  feeling. 

How  little  the  thus-called  statesmen  know  Europe. 
Simmer,  Seward,  etc.  already  have  under  considera 
tion  if  Europe  will  recognize  the  secesh.  Europe 
recognize sfaits  accomplis,  and  a  great  deal  of  blood 
will  run  before  secesh  becomes  un  fait  accomplie 
These  Sewards,  Sumners,  etc.  pay  too  much  atten 
tion  to  the  silly  talk  of  the  European  diplomats  in 
Washington;  and  by  doing  this  these  would-be 
statesmen  prove  how  ignorant  they  are  of  history  in 
general,  and  specially  ignorant  of  the  policy  of  Eu 
ropean  cabinets.  Before  a  struggle  decides  a  ques 
tion  a  recognition  is  bosh,  and  I  laugh  at  it. 

The  race,  the  race  increases  with  a  fearful  rapid 
ity.  No  flood  does  it  so  quick.  Poor  Senators ! 
Some  of  them  must  spend  nights  and  days  to  decide 
on  whom  to  bestow  this  or  that  office.  Secretaries 
or  Ministers  wr angle,  fight  (that  is  the  word  used), 
as  if  life  and  death  depended  upon  it. 

Poor  (Carlylian-meaning)  good-natured  Senator 
Sumiier,  in  his  earnest,  honest  wish  to  be  just  and 
of  service  to  everybody,  looks  as  a  hare  tracked  by 
hounds ;  so  are  at  him  office-seekers  from  the  whole 
country.  This  hunting  degrades  the  hounds,  and 
enervates  the  patrons. 

I  am  told  that  the  President  is  wholly  absorbed  in 
adjusting,  harmonizing  the  amount  of  various  sala 
ries  bestowed  on  various  States  through  its  office 
holders  and  office-seekers. 

It  were  better  if  the  President  would  devote  his 


MARCH,  1861.]  DIARY.  19 

time  to  calculate  the  forces  and  resources  needed  to 
quench  the  fire.  Over  in  Montgomery  the  slave- 
drivers  proceed  with  the  terrible,  unrelenting,  fear 
less  earnestness  of  the  most  unflinching  criminals. 

After  all,  these  crowds  of  office-hunters  are  far 
from  representing  the  best  element  of  the  genuine, 
laborious,  intelligent  people,  —  of  its  true  healthy 
stamina.  This  is  consoling  for  me,  who  know  the 
American  people  in  the  background  of  office-hunt 
ers. 

Of  course  an  alleviating  circumstance  is,  that  the 
method,  the  system,  the  routine,  oblige,  nay  force, 
everybody  to  ask,  to  hunt.  As  in  the  Scriptures, 
"Ask,  and  you  will  get;  or  knock,  and  it  will  be 
opened."  Of  course,  many  worthy,  honorable,  de 
serving  men,  who  would  be  ornaments  to  the  office, 
must  run  the  gauntlet  together  with  the  hounds. 

It  is  reported,  and  I  am  sure  of  the  truth  of  the 
report,  that  Governor  Chase  is  for  recognizing,  or 
giving  up  the  revolted  Cotton  States,  so  as  to  save 
by  it  the  Border  States,  and  eventually  to  fight  for 
their  remaining  in  the  Union.  What  logic !  If 
the  treasonable  revolt  is  conceded  to  the  Cotton 
States,  on  what  ground  can  it  be  denied  to  the  thus 
called  Border  States  ?  I  am  sorry  that  Chase  has 
such  notions. 

It  is  positively  asserted  by  those  who  ought  to 
know,  that  Seward,  having  secured  to  himself  the 
Secretaryship  of  State,  offered  to  the  Southern  lead 
ers  in  Congress  compromise  and  concessions,  to 
assure,  by  such  step,  his  confirmation  by  the  Demo- 


20  DIARY.  [MARCH,  1861. 

cratic.vote.  The  chiefs  refused  the  bargain,  dis 
trusting  him.  All  this  was  going  on  for  weeks,  nay 
months,  previous  to  the  inauguration,  so  it  is  asserted. 
But  Seward  might  have  been  anxious  to  preserve 
the  Union  at  any  price.  His  enemies  assert  that  if 
Seward's  plan  had  succeeded,  virtually  the  Demo 
crats  would  have  had  the  power.  Thus  the  mean 
ing  of  Lincoln's  election  would  have  been  destroyed, 
and  Buchanan's  administration  would  have  been 
continued  in  its  most  dirty  features,  the  name  only 
being  changed. 

Old  Scott  seems  to  be  worried  out  by  his  laurels ; 
he  swallows  incense,  and  I  do  not  see  that  anything 
whatever  is  done  to  meet  the  military  emergency.  I 
see  the  cloud. 

Were  it  true  that  Seward  and  Scott  go  hand  in 
hand,  and  that  both,  and  even  Chase,  are  blunted 
axes! 

I  hear  that  Mr.  Blair  is  the  only  one  who  swears, 
demands,  asks  for  action,  for  getting  at  them  with 
out  losing  time.  Brave  fellow !  I  am  glad  to 
have  at  Willard's  many  times  piloted  deputations  to 
the  doors  of  Lincoln  on  behalf  of  Blair's  admission 
into  the  Cabinet.  I  do  not  know  him,  but  will  try 
to  become  nearer  acquainted. 

But  for  the  New  York  radical  Republicans, 
already  named,  neither  Chase  nor  Blair  would  have 
entered  the  Cabinet.  But  for  them  Seward  would 
have  had  it  totally  his  own  way.  Members  of  Con 
gress  acted  less  than  did  the  New  Yorkers. 

The   South,   or  the  rebels,  slave-drivers,  slave- 


MARCH,  1861.]  DIARY.  21 

breeders,  constitute  the  most  corrosive  social  decom 
positions  and  impurities ;  what  the  human  race 
throughout  countless  ages  successively  toiled  to 
purify  itself  from  and  throw  off.  Europe  con 
tinually  makes  terrible  and  painful  efforts,  which 
at  times  are  marked  by  bloody  destruction.  This  I 
asserted  in  my  various  writings.  This  social,  putre 
fied  evil,  and  the  accumulated  matter  in  the  South, 
pestilentially  and  in  various  ways  influenced  the 
North,  poisoning  its  normal  healthy  condition.  This 
abscess,  undermining  the  national  life,  has  burst  now. 
Somebody,  something  must  die,  but  this  apparent 
death  will  generate  a  fresh  and  better  life. 

The  month  of  March  closes,  but  the  administra 
tion  seems  to  enjoy  the  most  beatific  security.  I  do 
not  see  one  single  sign  of  foresight,  —  this  cardinal 
criterion  of  statesmanship.  Chase  measures  the 
empty  abyss  of  the  treasury.  Senator  Wilson  spoke 
of  treason  everywhere,  but  the  administration  seems 
not  to  go  to  work  and  to  reconstruct,  to  fill  up  what 
treason  has  disorganized  and  emptied.  Nothing 
about  reorganizing  the  army,  the  navy,  refitting  the 
arsenals.  No  foresight,  no  foresight !  either  states 
manlike  or  administrative.  Curious  to  sec  these 
men  at  work.  The  whole  efforts  visible  to  me  and 
to  others,  and  the  only  signs  given  by  the  adminis 
tration  in  concert,  are  the  paltry  preparations  to 
send  provisions  to  Fort  Sumpter.  What  is  the  mat 
ter  ?  what  are  they  about  ? 


APRIL,   1861. 

Seward  parleying  with  the  rebel  commissioners  —  Corcoran's  dinner  — 
The  crime  in  full  blast !  —  75,000  men  called  for  —  Massachusetts  takes 
the  lead  —  Baltimore — Defence  of  "Washington — Blockade  discussed 
—  France  our  friend,  not  England  — "Warning  to  the  President  — Vir 
ginia  secedes  — Lincoln  warned  again  — Seward  says  it  will  all  blow 
over  in  sixty  to  ninety  days  —  Charles  F.  Adams  —  The  administra 
tion  undecided;  the  people  alone  inspired  —  Slavery  must  perish!  — 
The  Fabian  policy— The  Blairs  —  Strange  conduct  of  Scott— Lord 
Lyons  —  Secret  agent  to  Canada. 

COMMISSIONERS  from  the  rebels ;  Seward  parleying 
with  them  through  some  Judge  Campbell.  Curious 
way  of  treating  -and  dealing  with  rebellion,  with 
rebels  and  traitors ;  why  not  arrest  them  ? 

Corcoran,  a  rich  partisan  of  secession,  invited 
to  a  dinner  the  rebel  commissioners  and  the  foreign 
diplomats.  If  such  a  thing  were  done  anywhere 
else,  such  a  pimp  would  be  arrested.  The  serious 
diplomats,  Lord  Lyons,  Mercier,  and  Stoeckl  refused 
the  invitation ;  some  smaller  accepted,  at  least  so  I 
hear. 

The  infamous  traitors  fire  on  the  Union  flag. 
They  treat  the  garrison  of  Sumpter  as  enemies  on 
sufferance,  and  here  their  commissioners  go  about 
free,  and  glory  in  treason.  What  is  this  adminis 
tration  about?  Have  they  no  blood;  are  they 
fishes  ? 

22 


APKIL,  1861.]  DIARY.  23 

The  crime  in  full  blast ;  consummatum  cst.  Surnp- 
ter  bombarded ;  Virginia,  under  the  nose  of  the  ad 
ministration,  secedes,  and  the  leaders  did  not  see 
or  foresee  anything  :  flirted  with  Virginia. 

Now,  they,  the  leaders  or  the  administration,  are 
terribly  startled  ;  so  is  the  brave  noble  North ;  the 
people  are  taken  unawares ;  but  no  wonder ;  the 
people  saw  the  Cabinet,  the  President,  and  the  mili 
tary  in  complacent  security.  These  watchmen  did 
nothing  to  give  an  early  sign  of  alarm,  so  the  people, 
confiding  in  them,  went  about  its  daily  occupation. 
But  it  will  rise  as  one  man  and  in  terrible  wrath. 
Vous  Ic  vcrrez  mess  Ics  Diplomatcs. 

The  President  calls  on  the  country  for  75,000 
men ;  telegram  has  spoken,  and  they  rise,  they 
arm,  they  come.  I  am  not  deceived  in  my  faith  in 
the  North  ;  the  excitement,  the  wrath,  is  terrible. 
Party  lines  burn,  dissolved  by  the  excitement.  Now 
the  people  is  in  fusion  as  bronze ;  if  Lincoln  and 
the  leaders  have  mettle  in  themselves,  then  they  can 
cast  such  arms,  moral,  material,  and  legislative,  as 
will  destroy  at  once  this  rebellion.  But  will  they 
have  the  energy  ?  They  do  not  look  like  Demiourgi. 

Massachusetts  takes  the  lead  ;  always  so,  this  first 
people  in  the  world  ;  first  for  peace  by  its  civilization 
and  intellectual  development,  and  first  to  run  to  the 
rescue. 

The  most  infamous  treachery  and  murder,  by  Bal- 
timoreans,  of  the  Massachusetts  men.  Will  the 
cowardly  murderers  be  exemplarily  punished  ? 

The  President,  under  the  advice  of  Scott,  seems 


24  DIARY.  [APRIL,  1861, 

to  take  coolly  the  treasonable  murders  of  Balti 
more  ;  instead  of  action,  again  parleying  with  these 
Baltimorean  traitors.  The  rumor  says  that  Seward 
is  for  leniency,  and  goes  hand  in  hand  with  Scott. 
Now,  if  they  will  handle  such  murderers  in  silk 
gloves  as  they  do,  the  fire  must  spread. 

The  secessionists  in  Washington  —  and  they  are 
a  legion,  of  all  hues  and  positions  —  are  defiant, 
arrogant,  sure  that  Washington  will  be  taken.  One 
risks  to  be  murdered  here. 

I  entered  the  thus  called  Cassius  Clay  Company, 
organized  for  the  defence  of  Washington  until  troops 
came.  For  several  days  patrolled,  drilled,  and  lay 
several  nights  on  the  hard  floor.  Had  compensa 
tion,  that  the  drill  often  reproduced  that  of  Falstaff's 
heroes.  But  my  campaigners  would  have  fought 
well  in  case  of  emergency.  Most  of  them  office- 
seekers.  When  the  alarm  was  over,  the  company 
dissolved,  but  each  got  a  kind  of  certificate  beauti 
fully  written  and  signed  by  Lincoln  and  Cameron. 
I  refused  to  take  such  a  certificate,  we  having  had 
no  occasion  to  fight. 

The  President  issued  a  proclamation  for  the  block 
ade  of  the  Southern  revolted  ports.  Do  they  not 
know  better  ? 

How  can  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  advise 
the  President  to  resort  to  such  a  measure  ?  Is  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  so  willing  to  call  in  for 
eign  nations  by  this  blockade,  thus  transforming  a 
purely  domestic  and  municipal  question  into  an 
international,  public  one  ? 


APRIL,  1861.]  DIARY.  25 

The  President  is  to  quench  the  rebellion,  a  do 
mestic  fire,  and  to  do  it  he  takes  a  weapon,  an  engine 
the  most  difficult  to  handle,  and  in  using  of  which 
he  depends  on  foreign  nations.  Do  they  not  know 
better  here  in  the  ministry  and  in  the  councils  ? 
Russia  dealt  differently  with  the  revolted  Circassians 
and  with  England  in  the  so  celebrated  case  of  the 
Vixen. 

The  administration  ought  to  know  its  rights  of 
sovereignty  and  to  close  the  ports  of  entry.  Then 
no  chance  would  be  left  to  England  to  meddle. 

YJcsterday  N dined  witli  Lord  Lyons,  and 

during  the  dinner  an  anonymous  note  announced 
to  the  Lord  that  the  proclamation  of  the  blockade 

is  to  be  issued  on  to-morrow.  N ,  who  has  a 

romantic  turn,  or  rather  who  seeks  for  midi  a*  14f 
heures,  speculated  what  lady  would  have  thus  vio 
lated  a  secret  d*  Etat. 

I  rather  think  it  comes  from  the  Ministry,  or,  as 
they  call  it  here,  from  the  Department.  About  two 
years  ago,  when  the  Central  Americans  were  so  teased 
and  maltreated  by  the  fillibusters  and  Democratic 
administration,  a  Minister  of  one  of  these  Central 
American  States  told  me  in  New  York  that  in  a 
Chief  of  the  Departments,  or  something  the  like, 
the  Central  Americans  have  a  valuable  friend,  who, 
every  time  that  trouble  is  brewing  against  them  in 
the  Department,  gives  them  a  secret  and  anony 
mous  notice  of  it.  This  friend  may  have  trans 
ferred  his  kindness  to  England. 

How  will  foreign  nations  behave  ?     I  wish  I  maj 


26  DIARY.  [APKIL,  1861. 

be  misguided  by  my  political  anglophobia,  but  Eng 
land,  envious,  rapacious,  and  the  Palmerstons  and 
others,  filled  with  hatred  towards  the  genuine  de 
mocracy  and  the  American  people,  will  play  some 
bad  tricks.  They  will  seize  the  occasion  to  avenge 
many  humiliations.  Charles  Sumner,  Howe,  and  a 
great  many  others,  rely  on  England,  —  on  her  anti- 
slavery  feeling.  I  do  not.  I  know  English  policy. 
We  shall  see. 

France,  Frenchmen,  and  Louis  Napoleon  are  by  far 
more  reliable.  The  principles  and  the  interest  of 
France,  broadly  conceived,  make  the  existence  of  a 
powerful  Union  a  statesmanlike  European  and  world 
necessity.  The  cold,  taciturn  Louis  Napoleon  is 
full  of  broad  and  clear  conceptions.  I  am  for  rely 
ing,  almost  explicitly,  on  France  and  on  him. 

The  administration  calls  in  all  the  men-of-war 
scattered  in  all  waters.  As  the  commercial  interests 
of  the  Union  will  remain  unprotected,  the  admin 
istration  ought  to  put  them  under  the  protection  of 
France.  It  is  often  done  so  between  friendly  pow 
ers.  Louis  Napoleon  could  not  refuse  ;  and  accept 
ing,  would  become  pledged  to  our  side. 

Germany,  great  and  small,  governments  and  peo 
ple,  will  be  for  the  Union.  Germans  are  honest ; 
they  love  the  Union,  hate  slavery,  and  understand, 
to  be  sure,  the  question.  Russia,  safe,  very  safe, 
few  blackguards  excepted  ;  so  Italy.  Spain  may 
play  double.  I  do  not  expect  that  the  Spaniards, 
goaded  to  the  quick  by  the  former  fillibustering 
administrations,  will  have  judgment  enough  to  find 


APRIL,  1861.]  DIARY.  27 

out  that  the  Republicans  have  been  and  will  be 
anti-fillibusters,  and  do  not  crave  Cuba. 

"JVrotc  a  respectful  warning  to  the  President  con 
cerning  the  unvoidable  results  of  his  proclamation 
in  regard  to  the  blockade ;  explained  to  him  that 
this,  his  international  demonstration,  will,  and 
forcibly  must  evoke  a  counter  proclamation  from 
foreign  powers  in  the  interest  of  their  own  respec 
tive  subjects  and  of  their  commercial  relations. 
Warned,  foretelling  that  the  foreign  powers  will  rec 
ognize  the  rebels  as  belligerents,  he,  the  President, 
having  done  it  already  in  some  way,  thus  applying 
an  international  mode  of  coercion.  Warned,  that 
the  condition  of  belligerents,  once  recognized,  the 
rebel  piratical  crafts  will  be  recognized  as  privateers 
by  foreign  powers,  and  as  such  will  be  admitted  to 
all  ports  under  the  secesh  flag,  which  will  thus  en 
joy  a  partial  recognition. 

Foreign  powers  may  grumble,  or  oppose  the  closing 
of  the  ports  of  entry  as  a  domestic,  administrative 
decision,  because  they  may  not  wish  to  commit  them 
selves  to  submit  to  a  paper  blockade.  But  if  the 
President  will  declare  that  he  will  enforce  the  clos 
ing  of  the  ports  with  the  whole  navy,  so  as  to  strictly 
guard  and  close  the  maritime  league,  then  the  foreign 
powers  will  see  that  the  administration  does  not  in 
tend  to  humbug  them,  but  that  he,  the  President, 
will  only  preserve  intact  the  fullest  exercise  of  sov 
ereignty,  and,  as  said  the  Roman  legist,  he,  the 
President,  "  nil  sibi  postidat  quod  non  aliis  tribuit" 
And  so  he,  the  President,  will  only  execute  the  laws 


28  DIARY.  [APBIL,  1861. 

of  his  country,  and  not  any  arbitrary  measure,  to 
say  with  the  Roman  Emperor,  "  Leges  etiam  in 
ipsa  arma  imperium  habere  volumus."  Warned  the 
President  'that  in  all  matters  relating  to  this  coun 
try  Louis  Napoleon  has  abandoned  the  initiative  to 
England  ;  and  to  throw  a  small  wedge  in  this  alli 
ance,  I  finally  respectfully  suggested  to  the  Presi 
dent  what  is  said  above  about  putting  the  American 
interests  in  the  Mediterranean  under  the  protection 
of  Louis  Napoleon. 

Few  days  thereafter  learned  that  Mr.  Seward 
does  not  believe  that  France  will  follow  England. 
Before  long  Seward  will  find  it  out. 

All  the  coquetting  with  Virginia,  all  the  pre 
sumed  influence  of  General  Scott,  ended  in  Virgin 
ia's  secession,  and  in  the  seizure  of  Norfolk. 

Has  ever  any  administration,  cabinet,  ministry  — 
call  it  what  name  you  will  —  given  positive,  indubi 
table  signs  of  want  and  absence  of  foresight,  as  did 
ours  in  these  Virginia,  Norfolk,  and  Harper's  Ferry 
affairs  ?  Not  this  or  that  minister  or  secretary,  but 
all  of  them  ought  to  go  to  the  constitutional  guillo 
tine.  Blindness  —  no  mere  short-sightedness  —  per 
meates  the  whole  administration,  Blair  excepted. 
And  Scott,  the  politico-military  adviser  of  the  Presi 
dent  !  What  is  the  matter  with  Scott,  or  were  the 
halo  and  incense  surrounding  him  based  on  bosh  ? 
Will  it  be  one  more  illusion  to  be  dispelled  ? 

The  administration  understood  not  how  to  save  or 
defend  Norfolk,  nor  how  to  destroy  it.  No  name  to 
be  found  for  such  concrete  incapacity.  The  rebels 


APRIL,  1831.]  DIARY.  29 

are  masters,  taking  our  leaders  by  the  nose.  Nor 
folk  gives  to  them  thousands  of  guns,  <fcc.,  and  no 
body  cries  for  shame.  They  ought  to  go  in  sack 
cloth,  those  narrow-sighted,  blind  rulers.  How 
will  the  people  stand  this  masterly  administrative 
demonstration  ?  In  England  the  people  and  the 
Parliament  would  impeach  the  whole  Cabinet. 

Charles  Sumner  told  me  that  the  President  and 
his  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  are  to  propose  to  the 
foreign  powers  the  accession  of  the  Union  to  tjie 
celebrated  convention  of  Paris  of  1856.  All  three 
considered  it  a  master  stroke  of  policy.  They  will 
not  catch  a  fly  by  it. 

Again  wrote  respectfully  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  warning 
him  against  a  too  hasty  accession  to  the  Paris 
convention.  Based  my  warning,  — 

1st.  Not  to  give  up  the  great  principles  contained 
in  Marcy's  amendment. 

2d.  Not  to  believe  or  suppose  for  a  minute  that 
the  accession  to  the  Paris  convention  at  this  time 
can  act  in  a  retroactive  sense ;  explained  that  it  will 
not  and  cannot  prevent  the  rebel  pirates  from  being 
recognized  by  foreign  powers  as  legal  privateers,  or 
being  treated  as  such. 

3d.  For  all  these  reasons  the  Union  will  not  win 
anything  by  such  a  step,  but  it  will  give  up  principles 
and  chain  its  own  hands  in  case  of  any  war  with 
England.  Supplicated  the  President  not  to  risk  a 
step  which  logically  must  turn  wrong. 

Baltimore  still  unpunished,  and  the  President 
parleying  with  various  deputations,  all  this  under  the 


30  DIARY.  [APRIL,  1861. 

guidance  of  Scott.  I  begin  to  be  confused ;  cannot 
find  out  what  is  the  character  of  Lincoln,  and  above 
all  of  Scott. 

Governors  from  whole  or  half-rebel  States  refuse 
the  President's  call  for  troops.  The  original  call  of 
75,000,  too  small  in  itself,  will  be  reduced  by  that 
refusal.  Why  does  not  the  administration  call  for 
more  on  the  North,  and  on  the  free  States  ?  In  the 
temper  of  this  noble  people  it  will  be  as  easy  to  have 
250,000  as  75,000,  and  then  rush  on  them;  sub 
merge  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  etc. ;  it  can  be  now 
so  easily  done.  The  Virginians  are  neither  armed 
nor  organized.  Courage  and  youth  seemingly  would 
do  good  in  the  councils. 

The  free  States  undoubtedly  will  vindicate  self- 
government.  "Whatever  may  be  said  by  foreign  and 
domestic  croakers,  I  do  not  doubt  it  for  a  single  min 
ute.  The  free  people  will  show  to  the  world  that  the 
apparently  loose  governmental  ribbons  are  the 
strongest  when  everybody  carries  them  in  him,  and 
holds  them.  The  people  will  show  that  the  intellectual 
magnetism  of  convictions  permeating  the  million  is 
by  far  stronger  than  the  commonly  called  govern 
mental  action  from  above,  and  it  is  at  the  same  time 
elastic  and  expansive,  even  if  the  official  leaders  may 
turn  out  to  be  altogether  mediocrities.  The  self- 
governing  free  North  will  show  more  vitality  and 
activity  than  any  among  the  governed  European 
countries  would  be  able  to  show  in  similar  emergen 
cies.  This  is  my  creed,  and  I  have  faith  in  the 
people. 


APKIL,  1801.]  DIARY.  31 

The  infamous  slavers  of  the  South  would  even  be 
honored  if  named  Barbary  States  of  North  America. 

Before  the  inauguration,  Seward  was  telling  the 
diplomats  that  no  disruption  will  take  place ;  now 
he  tells  them  that  it  will  blow  over  in  from  sixty  to 
ninety  days.  Docs  Seward  believe  it  ?  Or  does  his 
imagination  or  his  patriotism  carry  him  away  or 
astray  ?  Or,  perhaps,  he  prefers  not  to  look  the 
danger  in  the  face,  and  tries  to  avert  the  bitter  cup. 
At  any  rate,  he  is  incomprehensible,  and  the  more 
so  when  seen  at  a  distance. 

Something,  nay,  even  considerable  efforts  ought  to 
be  made  to  enlighten  the  public  opinion  in  Europe, 
as  on  the  outside,  insurrections,  nationalities,  etc., 
are  favored  in  Europe.  How  far  the  diplomats  sent 
by  the  administration  are  prepared  for  this  task  ? 

Adams  has  shown  in  the  last  Congress  his  schol 
arly,  classical  narrow-mindedness.  Sanford  cannot 
favorably  impress  anybody  in  Europe,  neither  in 
cabinets,  nor  in  saloons,  nor  the  public  at  large.  He 
looks  and  acts  as  a  commis  voyageur,  will  be  consid 
ered  as  such  at  first  sight  by  everybody,  and  his 
features  and  manners  may  not  impress  others  as 
being  distinguished  and  high-toned. 

Every  historical,  that  is,  human  event,  has  its 
moral  and  material  character  and  sides.  To  ignore, 
and  still  worse  to  blot  out,  to  reject  the  moral  incen 
tives  and  the  moral  verdict,  is  a  crime  to  the  public 
at  large,  is  a  crime  towards  human  reason. 

Such  action  blunts  sound  feelings  and  compre 
hension,  increases  the  arrogance  of  the  evil-doers. 


32  DIARY.  [APRIL,  1861. 

The  moral  criterion  is  absolute  and  unconditional, 
and  ought  as  such  unconditionally  to  be  applied  to 
the  events  here.  Things  and  actions  must  be  called 
by  their  true  names.  What  is  true,  noble,  pure, 
and  lofty,  is  on  the  side  of  the  North,  and  permeates 
the  unnamed  millions  of  the  free  people  ;  it  ought 
to  be  separated  from  what  is  sham,  egotism,  lie  or 
assumption.  Truth  must  be  told,  never  mind  the 
outcry.  History  has  not  to  produce  pieces  for  the 
stage,  or  to  amuse  a  tea-party. 

Regiments  pour  in  ;  the  Massachusetts  men,  of 
course,  leading  the  van,  as  in  the  times  of  the  tea- 
party.  My  admiration  for  the  Yankees  is  justified 
on  every  step,  as  is  my  scorn,  my  contempt,  etc., 
etc.,  of  the  Southern  chivalrous  slaver. 

Wrote  to  Charles  Sumner  expressing  my  wonder 
at  the  undecided  conduct  of  the  administration ; 
at  its  want  of  foresight ;  its  eternal  parleying  with 
Baltimoreans,  Virginians,  Missourians,  etc.,  and  no 
step  to  tread  down  the  head  of  the  young  snake. 
No  one  among  them  seems  to  have  the  seer's  eye. 
The  people  alone,  who  arm,  who  pour  in  every  day 
and  in  large  numbers,  who  transform  Washington 
into  a  camp,  and  who  crave  for  fighting,  —  the  people 
alone  have  the  prophetic  inspiration,  and  are  the  gen 
uine  statesmen  for  the  emergency. 

How  will  the  Congress  act  ?  The  Congress  will 
come  here  emerging  from  the  innermost  of  the  pop 
ular  volcano ;  but  the  Congress  will  be  manacled  by 
formulas ;  it  will  move  not  in  the  spirit  of  the  Con 
stitution,  but  in  the  dry  constitutionalism,  and  the 


APIUL,  18G1.J  DIARY.  33 

Congress  will  move  with  difficulty.  Still  I  have 
faith,  although  the  Congress  never  will  seize  upon 
parliamentary  omnipotence.  Up  to  to-day,  the  ad 
ministration,  instead  of  boldly  crushing,  or,  at  least, 
attempting  to  do  it ;  instead  of  striking  at  the  trai 
tors,  the  administration  is  continually  on  the  look 
out  where  the  blows  come  from,  scarcely  having 
courage  to  ward  them  off.  The  deputations  pouring 
from  the  North  urge  prompt,  decided,  crushing 
action.  This  thunder-voice  of  the  twenty  millions  of 
freemen  ought  to  nerve  this  senile,  administration. 
The  Southern  leaders  do  not  lose  one  minute's 
time ;  they  spread  the  fire,  arm,  and  attack  with 
all  the  fury  of  traitors  and  criminals. 

The  Northern  merchants  roar  for  the  offensive ; 
the  administration  is  undecided. 

Some  individuals,  politicians,  already  speak  out 
that  the  slaveocratic  privileges  are  only  to  be  cur 
tailed,  and  slavery  preserved  as  a  domestic  institu 
tion.  Not  a  bit  of  it.  The  current  and  the  devel 
opment  of  events  will  run  over  the  heads  of  the 
pusillanimous  and  contemptible  conservatives.  Sla 
very  must  perish,  even  if  the  whole  North,  Lincoln 
and  Seward  at  its  head,  should  attempt  to  save  it. 

Already  they  speak  of  the  great  results  of  Fabian 
policy  ;  Seward,  I  am  told,  prides  in  it.  Do  those 
Fabiuses  know  what  they  talk  about  ?  Fabius's  tac 
tics  —  not  policy  —  had  in  view  not  to  expose  young, 
disheartened  levies  against  Hannibal's  unconquered 
veterans,  but  further  to  give  time  to  Rome  to  restore 
her  exhausted  means,  to  recover  political  influences 

3 


34  DIARY.  [APRIL,  1861. 

with  other  Italian  independent  communities,  to  re- 
conclude  broken  alliances  with  the  cities,  etc.  But 
is  this  the  condition  of  the  Union  ?  Your  Fabian 
policy  will  cost  lives,  time,  and  money  ;  the  people 
feels  it,  and  roars  for  action.  Events  are  great,  the 
people  is  great,  but  the  official  leaders  may  turn  out 
inadequate  to  both. 

What  a  magnificent  chance  —  scarcely  equal  in 
history  —  to  become  a  great  historical  personality, 
to  tower  over  future  generations.  But  I  do  not  see 
any  one  pointing  out  the  way.  Better  so ;  the  prin 
ciple  of  self-government  as  the  self-acting,  self-pre 
serving  force  will  be  asserted  by  the  total  eclipse  of 
great  or  even  eminent  men. 

The  administration,  under  the  influence  of  drill 
men,  tries  to  form  twenty  regiments  of  regulars,  and 
calls  for  45,000  three  years'  volunteers.  What  a 
curious  appreciation  of  necessity  and  of  numbers 
must  prevail  in  the  brains  of  the  administration. 
Twenty  regiments  of  regulars  will  be  a  drop  in 
water ;  will  not  help  anything,  but  will  be  sufficient 
to  poison  the  public  spirit.  Citizens  and  people, 
but  not  regulars,  not  hirelings,  are  to  fight  the 
battle  of  principle.  Regulars  and  their  spirit,  with 
few  exceptions,  is  worse  here  than  were  the  Yanit- 
schars. 

When  the  principle  will  be  saved  and  victorious, 
it  will  be  by  the  devotion,  the  spontaneity  of  the 
people,  and  not  by  Lincoln,  Scott,  Seward,  or  any 
of  the  like.  It  is  said  that  Seward  rules  both  Lin 
coln  and  Scott.  The  people,  the  masses,  do  not 


APIUL,  1861.]  DIARY.  35 

doubt  their  ability  to  crush  by  one  blow  the  traitors, 
but  the  administration  does. 

What  I  hear  concerning  the  Blairs  confirms  my 
high  opinion  of  both.  Blair  alone  in  the  Cabinet 
represents  the  spirit  of  the  people. 

Something  seems  not  right  with  Scott.  Is  he  too 
old,  or  too  much  of  a  Virginian,  or  a  hero  on  a  small 
scale  ? 

If,  as  they  say,  the  President  is  guided  by  Scott's 
advice,  such  advice,  to  judge  from  facts,  is  not  poli 
tic,  not  heroic,  not  thorough,  not  comprehensive, 
and  not  at  all  military,  that  is,  not  broad  and  deep, 
in  the  military  sense.  It  will  be  a  pity  to  be  disap 
pointed  in  this  national  idol. 

Scott  is  against  entering  Virginia,  against  taking 
Baltimore,  against  punishing  traitors.  Strange, 
strange  ! 

Diplomats  altogether  out  of  their  senses ;  they 
are  bewildered  by  the  uprising,  by  the  unanimity, 
by  the  warlike,  earnest,  unflinching  attitude  of  the 
masses  of  the  freemen,  of  my  dear  Yankees.  The 
diplomats  have  lost  the  compass.  They,  duty  bound, 
were  diplomatically  obsequious  to  the  power  held 
so  long  by  the  pro-slavery  party.  They  got  accus 
tomed  to  the  arrogant  assumption  and  impertinence 
of  the  slavers,  and,  forgetting  their  European  origin, 
the  diplomats  tacitly  —  but  for  their  common  sense 
and  honor  I  hope  reluctantly  —  admitted  the  as 
sumptions  of  the  Southern  banditti  to  be  in  America 
the  nearest  assimilation  to  the  chivalry  and  nobility 
of  old  Europe.  Without  taking  the  cudgel  in  de- 


36  DIARY.  [APRIL,  1861. 

fence  of  European  nobility,  chivalry,  and  aristocra 
cy,  it  is  sacrilegious  to  compare  those  infamous 
slavers  with  the  old  or  even  with  the  modern  Euro 
pean  higher  classes.  In  the  midst  of  this  slave- 
driving,  slave-worshipping,  and  slave-breeding  so 
ciety  of  Washington,  the  diplomats  swallowed, 
gulped  all  the  Southern  lies  a*bout  the  Constitution, 
state-rights,  the  necessity  of  slavery,  and  other  like 
infamies.  The  question  is,  how  far  the  diplomats 
in  their  respective  official  reports  transferred  these 
pro-slavery  common-places  to  their  governments. 
But,  after  all,  the  governments  of  Europe  will  not 
be  thoroughly  influenced  by  the  chat  of  their  diplo 
mats. 

Among  all  diplomats  the  English  (Lord  Lyons) 
is  the  most  sphinx  ;  he  is  taciturn,  reserved,  listens 
more  than  he  speaks  ;  the  others  are  more  commu 
nicative. 

What  an  idea  have  those  Americans  of  sending  a 
secret  agent  to  Canada,  and  what  for?  England 
will  find  it  out,  and  must  be  offended.  I  would  not 
have  committed  such  an  absurdity,  even  in  my  palmy 
days,  when  I  conspired  with  Louis  Napoleon,  sat  in 
the  councils  with  Godefroi  Cavaignac,  or  wrote  in 
structions  for  Mazzini,  then  only  a  beginner  with 
his  Giovina  Italia,  and  his  miscarried  Romarino 
attempt  in  Savoy. 

Of  what  earthly  use  can  be  such  politique  provoca- 
trice  towards  England  ?  Or  is  it  only  to  give  some 
money  to  a  hungry,  noisy,  and  not  over-principled 
office-seeker  ? 


MAY,  1861. 

The  administration  tossed  by  expedients  —  Seward  to  Dayton  — Spread- 
eagleism  —  One  phasis  of  the  American  Union  finished  —  The  fuss 
about  llussell  —  Pressure  on  the  administration  increases  —  Seward, 
Wickoff,  and  the  Herald  —  Lord  Lyons  menaced  with  passports  — The 
splendid  Northern  army  —  The  administration  not  up  to  the  occasion 
—  The  new  men  —  Andrew,  Wadsworth,  Boutwell,  Noyes,  Wade, 
Trumbull,  "VValcott,  King,  Chandler,  Wilson  — Lyon  jumps  over  for 
mulas —  Governor  Banks  needed  —  Butler  takes  Baltimore  with  two 
regiments  —  News  from  England  —  The  "belligerent"  question  — 
Butler  and  Scott  —  Seward  and  the  diplomats  ••-  "  What  a  Merlin  !  "  — 
"  France  not  bigger  than  New  York!  "  —  Virginia  invaded —  Murder 
of  Ellsworth  —  Harpies  at  the  White  House. 

RUMORS  that  the  President,  the  administration,  or 
whoever  has  it  in  his  hands,  is  to  take  the  offensive, 
make  a  demonstration  on  Virginia  and  on  Balti 
more.  But  these  ups  and  downs,  these  vacilla 
tions,  are  daily  occurrences,  and  nothing  points  to 
a  firm  purpose,  to  a  decided  policy,  or  any  policy 
whatever  of  the  administration.  » 

A  great  principle  and  a  great  cause  cannot  be 
served  and  cannot  be  saved  by  half  measures,  and 
still  less  by  tricks  and  by  paltry  expedients.  But 
the  administration  is  tossed  by  expedients.  Nothing 
is  hitherto  done,  and  this  denotes  a  want  of  any  firm 
decision. 

Mr.  Seward's  letter  to  Dayton,  a  first  manifesto  to 
foreign  nations,  and  the  first  document  of  the  new 

37 


38  DIARY.  [MAY,  1861. 

Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  It  is  bold,  high-toned, 
and  American,  but  it  has  dark  shadows ;  shows  an 
inexperienced  hand  in  diplomacy  and  in  dealing 
with  events.  The  passages  about  the  frequent 
changes  in  Europe  are  unnecessary,  and  unprovoked 
by  anything  whatever.  It  is  especially  offensive  to 
France,  to  the  French  people,  and  to  Louis  Napo 
leon.  It  is  bosh,  but  in  Europe  they  will  consider 
it  as  une  politique  provocatrice. 

For  the  present  complications,  diplomatic  relations 
ought  to  be  conducted  with  firmness,  with  dignity, 
but  not  with  an  arrogant,  offensive  assumption,  not 
in  the  spirit  of  spread-eagleism ;  no  brass,  but  rea 
son  and  decision. 

Americans  will  find  out  how  absolute  are  the  laws 
of  history,  as  stern  and  as  positive  as  all  the  other 
laws  of  nature.  To  me  it  is  clear  that  one  phasis 
of  American  political  growth,  development,  &c.,  is 
gone,  is  finished.  It  is  the  phasis  of  the  Union  as 
created  by  the  Constitution.  This  war  —  war  it 
will  be,  and  a  terrible  one,  notwithstanding  all  the 
prophecies  of  Mr.  Seward  to  the  contrary  —  this 
war  will  generate  new  social  and  constitutional  ne 
cessities  and  new  formulas.  New  conceptions  and 
new  passions  will  spring  up ;  in  one  word,  it  will 
bring  forth  new  social,  physical,  and  moral  creations : 
so  we  are  in  the  period  of  gestation. 

Democracy,  the  true,  the  noble,  that  which  con 
stitutes  the  signification  of  America  in  the  progress 
of  our  race  —  democracy  will  not  be  destroyed. 
All  the  inveterate  enemies  here  and  in  Europe,  all 


MAY,  1861.]  DIARY.  89 

who  already  joyously  sing  the  funeral  songs  of  de 
mocracy,  all  of  them  Avill  become  disgraced.  Democ 
racy  will  emerge  more  pure,  more  powerful,  more 
rational ;  destroyed  will  be  the  most  infamous  oligar 
chy  ever  known  in  history  ;  oligarchy  issued  neither 
from  the  sword,  nor  the  gown,  nor  the  shop,  but 
wombcd,  generated,  cemented,  and  sustained  by 
traffic  in  man. 

The  famous  Russell,  of  the  London  Times,  is  what 
I  always  thought  him  to  be  —  a  graphic,  imaginative 
writer,  with  power  of  description  of  all  he  sees,  but 
not  the  slightest  insight  in  events,  in  men,  in  institu 
tions.  Russell  is  not  able  to  find  out  the  epidermis 
under  a  shirt.  And  they  make  so  much  fuss  about 
him  ;  Seward  brings  him  to  the  first  cabinet  dinner 
given  by  the  President ;  Mrs.  Lincoln  sends  him 
bouquets ;  and  this  man,  Russell,  will  heap  blunders 
upon  blunders. 

The  pressure  on  the  administration  for  decided, 
energetic  action  increases  from  all  sides.  Seldom, 
anywhere,  an  administration  receives  so  many  moral 
kicks  as  does  this  one ;  but  it  seems  to  stand  them 
with  serenity.  Oh,  for  a  clear,  firm,  well-defined 
purpose ! 

The  country,  the  people  demands  an  attack  on 
Virginia,  on  Richmond,  and  Baltimore  ;  the  country, 
better  than  the  military  authorities,  understands  the 
political  and  military  necessities  ;  the  people  has  the 
consciousness  that  if  fighting  is  done  instantly,  it 
will  be  done  cheaply  and  thoroughly  by  a  move  of  its 
finger.  The  administration  can  double  the  number 


40  DIARY.  [MAT,  1861. 

of  men  under  arms,  but  hesitates.  What  slow 
coaches,  and  what  ignorance  of  human  nature  and 
of  human  events.  The  knowing  ones,  the  wiseacres, 
will  be  the  ruin  of  this  country.  They  poison  the 
sound  reason  of  the  people. 

What  the  d is  Seward  with  his  politicians' 

policy  ?  What  can  signify  his  close  alliance  with 
such  outlaws  as  Wikoff  and  the  Herald,  and  pushing 
that  sheet  to  abuse  England  and  Lord  Lyons  ? 
Wikoff  is,  so  to  speak,  an  inmate  of  Seward's  house 
and  office,  and  Wikoff  declared  publicly  that  the 
telegram  contained  in  the  Herald,  and  so  violent 
against  England  and  Lord  Lyons,  was  written  under 
Seward's  dictation.  Wikoff,  I  am  told,  showed  the 
MS.  corrected  in  Seward's  handwriting.  Lord 
Lyons  is  menaced  with  passports.  Is  this  man  mad  ? 
Can  Seward  "for  a  moment  believe  that  Wikoff  knows 
Europe,  or  has  any  influence  ?  He  may  know  the 
low  resorts  there.  Can  Seward  be  fool  enough  to 
irritate  England,  and  entangle  this  country  ?  Even 
my  anglophobia  cannot  stand  it.  Wrote  about  it 
warning  letters  to  New  York,  to  Barney,  to  Opdyke, 
to  Wadsworth,  &c. 

The  whole  District  a  great  camp  ;  the  best  popula 
tion  from  the  North  in  rank  and  file.  More  intelli 
gence,  industry,  and  all  good  national  and  intellect 
ual  qualities  represented  in  those  militia  and 
volunteer  regiments,  than  in  any  —  not  only  army, 
but  society  —  in  Europe.  Artisans,  mechanics  of 
all  industries,  of  trade,  merchants,  bankers,  lawyers  ; 
all  pursuits  and  professions.  Glorious,  heart-elevat- 


MAY,  1861.  J  DIARY.  41 

ing  sight !  These  regiments  want  only  a  small  touch 
of  military  organization. 

Weeks  run,  troops  increase,  and  not  the  first  step 
made  to  organize  them  into  an  army,  to  form  brig 
ades,  not  to  say  divisions ;  not  yet  two  regiments 
manoeuvring  together.  What  a  strange  idea  the 
military  chief  or  chiefs,  or  department,  or  somebody, 
must  have  of  what  it  is  to  organize  an  army.  Not 
the  first  letter  made.  Can  it  be  ignorance  of  this 
elementary  knowledge  with  which  is  familiar  every 
corporal  in  Europe  ?  When  will  they  start,  when 
begin  to  mould  an  army  ? 

The  administration  was  not  composed  for  this 
emergency,  and  is  not  up  to  it.  The  government 
hesitates,  is  inexperienced,  and  will  unavoidably 
make  heaps  of  mistakes,  which  may  endanger  the 
cause*,  and  for  which,  at  any  rate,  the  people  is  ter 
ribly  to  pay.  The  loss  in  men  and  material  will  be 
very  considerable  before  the  administration  will  get 
on  the  right  track.  It  is  painful  to  think,  nay,  to  be 
sure  of  it.  Then  the  European  anti-Union  politi 
cians  and  diplomats  will  credit  the  disasters  to  the  in 
efficiency  of  self-government.  The  diplomats,  accus 
tomed  to  the  rapid,  energetic  action  of  a  supreme  or  of 
a  centralized  power,  laugh  at  the  trepidation  of  ours. 
But  the  fault  is  not  in  the  principle  of  self-govern 
ment,  but  in  the  accident  which  brought  to  the  helm 
such  an  amount  of  inexperience.  Monarchy  with  a 
feeble  head  is  even  in  a  worse  predicament.  Louis 
XV.,  the  Spanish  and  Neapolitan  Bourbons,  Gustavus 
IV.,  <fcc.,  are  thereof  the  historical  evidences. 


42  DIARY.  [MAY,  1831. 

May  the  shock  of  events  bring  out  new  lights  from 
the  people  !  One  day  the  administration  is  to  take 
the  initiative,  that  is,  the  offensive,  then  it  recedes 
from  it.  No  one  understands  the  organization  and 
handling  of  such  large  bodies.  They  are  to  make 
their  apprenticeship,  if  only  it  may  not  to  be  too 
dearly  paid.  But  they  cannot  escape  the  action  of 
that  so  positive  law  in  nature,  in  history,  and,  above 
all,  absolute  in  war. 

Wrote  to  Charles  Sumner,  suggesting  that  the  ice 
magnates  send  here  from  Boston  ice  for  hospitals. 

The  war  now  waged  against  the  free  States  is  one 
made  by  the  most  hideous  sauvagerie  against  a  most 
perfectioned  and  progressive  civilization.  History 
records  not  a  similar  event.  It  is  a  hideous  phe 
nomenon,  disgracing  our  race,  and  it  is  so,  look  on 
it  from  whatever  side  you  will. 

A  new  man  from  the  people,  like  Governor  An 
drew,  of  Massachusetts,  acts  promptly,  decisively ; 
feels  and  speaks  ardently,  and  not  as  the  rhetors. 
Andrew  is  the  incarnation  of  the  Massachusetts,  nay, 
of  the  genuine  American  people.  I  must  become 
acquainted  with  Andrew.  Thousands  of  others  like 
Andrew  exist  in  all  the  States.  Can  anybody  be  a 
more  noble  incarnation  of  the  American  people  than 
J.  S.  Wadsworth  ?  I  become  acquainted  with  nu 
merous  men  whom  I  honor  as  the  true  American 
men.  So  Boutwell,  of  Massachusetts,  Curtis  Noycs, 
Senator  Wade,  Trumbull,  Walcott,  from  Ohio,  Sena 
tor  King,  Chandler,  and  many,  many  true  patriots. 


MAT,  1861.]  DIARY.  43 

Senator  Wilson,  my  old  friend,  is  up  to  the  mark  ; 
a  man  of  the  people,  but  too  mercurial. 

Captain  or  Major  Lyon  in  St.  Louis,  the  first  initi 
ator  or  rcvclator  of  what  is  the  absolute  law  of  neces 
sity  in  questions  of  national  death  or  life.  Lyon 
jumped  over  formulas,  over  routine,  over  clumsy 
discipline  and  martinetism,  and  saved  St.  Louis  and 
Missouri. 

It  is  positively  asserted  that  General  Scott's  first 
impression  was  to  court-martial  Lyon  for  this  breach 
of  discipline,  for  having  acted  on  his  own  patriotic 
responsibility. 

Can  Scott  be  such  a  dricd-up,  narrow-minded  dis 
ciplinarian,  and  he  the  Egcria  of  Lincoln  !  Oh  !  oh  ! 

Diplomats  tell  mo  that  Seward  uses  the  dictatorial 
I,  speaking  of  the  government.  Three  cheers  for 
the  new  Louis  XIV. ! 

Governor  Banks  would  be  excellent  for  the  Intcn- 
dant  General  de  V  Armee :  they  call  it  here  General 
Quartermaster.  Awful  disorder  and  slowness  pre 
vail  in  this  cardinal  branch  of  the  army.  Wrote 
to  Simmer  concerning  Banks. 

Gen.  Butler  took  Baltimore ;  did  what  ought  to 
have  been  done  a  long  time  ago.  Butler  did  it  on 
his  own  responsibility,  without  orders.  Butler  acted 
upon  the  same  principle  as  Lyon,  and,  horrabile 
dictUj  astonished,  terrified  the  parleying  administra 
tion.  Scott  wishes  to  put  Butler  under  arrest ;  hap 
pily  Lincoln  resisted  his  boss  (so  Mr.  Lincoln  called 
Scott  before  a  deputation  from  Baltimore).  Scott, 
Patterson,  and  Mansfield  made  a  beautiful  stratcgi- 


44  D  I  A  K  Y.  [MAY,  18G1. 

cal  horror !  They  began  to  speak  of  strategy ;  plan 
to  approach  Baltimore  on  three  different  roads,  and 
with  about  35,000  men.  Butler  did  it  one  morning 
with  two  regiments,  and  kicked  over  the  senile 
strategians  in  council. 

The  administration  speaks  with  pride  of  its  for 
bearing,  that  is,  parleying,  policy.  The  people,  the 
country,  requires  action.  Congressus  impar  Achilli  : 
Achilles,  the  people,  and  Congressus  the  forbearing 
administration. 

Music,  parades,  serenades,  receptions,  &c.,  <fec., 
only  no  genuine  military  organization.  They  do  it 
differently  on  the  other  side  of  the  Potomac.  There 
the  leaders  are  in  earnest. 

Met  Gov.  Sprague  and  asked  him  when  he  would 
have  a  brigade  ;  his  answer  was,  soon  ;  but  this  soon 
comes  very  slow. 

News  from  England.  Lord  John  Russell  declared 
in  Parliament  that  the  Queen,  or  tlie  English 
government,  will  recognize  the  rebels  in  the  condi 
tion  of  "  belligerents."  0  England,  England !  The 
declaration  is  too  hasty.  Lord  John  cannot  have 
had  news  of  the  proclamation  of  the  blockade  when 
he  made  that  declaration.  The  blockade  could 
have  served  him  as  an  excuse  for  the  haste.  Eng 
lish  aristocracy  and  government  show  thus  their  en 
mity  to  the  North,  and  their  partiality  to  slavers. 
What  will  the  anglophiles  of  Boston  say  to  this  ? 

Neither  England  or  France,  or  anybody  in  Eu 
rope,  recognized  the  condition  of  "  belligerents  "  to 
Poles,  when  we  fought  in  Russia  in  1831.  Were 


MAY,  1831.]  DIARY.  45 

the  Magyars  recognized  as  such  in  1848-'49  ?  Lord 
Palmerston  called  the  German  flag  hard  names 
in  the  war  with  Denmark  for  Schleswig-Holstein ; 
and  now  he  bows  to  the  flag  of  slavers  and  pirates. 
If  the  English  statesmen  have  not  some  very  par 
ticular  reason  for  this  hasty,  uncalled-for  condescen 
sion  to  the  enemies  of  humanity,  then  curse  upon 
the  English  government.  I  recollect  that  European 
powers  recognized  the  Greeks  "  belligerents  "  (Aus 
tria  opposed)  in  their  glorious  struggle  against  the 
slavers,  the  Turks.  But  then  this  stretching  of 
positive,  international  comity,  —  this  stretching  was 
done  in  the  interest  of  freedom,  of  right,  and  of  hu 
manity,  against  savages  and  slaughterers.  On  the 
present  occasion  England  did  the  reverse.  0  Eng 
land,  England,  thou  Judas  Iscariot  of  nations ! 
Seward  said  to  John  Jacob  Astor,  and  to  a  New 
York  deputation,  that  this  English  declaration  con 
cerning  "  belligerents  "  is  a  mere  formality,  having 
no  bearing  at  all.  I  told  the  contrary  to  Astor  and 
to  others,  assuring  them  that  Mr.  Seward  will 
soon  find,  to  the  cost  of  the  people  and  to  his  own, 
how  much  complication  and  trouble  this  mere  for 
mality  will  occasion,  and  occasion  it  before  long.  Is 
Seward  so  ignorant  of  international  laws,  of  general 
or  special  history,  or  was  it  only  said  to  throw  dust  ? 

Wrote  about  the  "  belligerents  "  a  warning  letter 
to  the  President. 

Butler,  in  command  of  Fortress  Monroe,  proposes 
to  land  in  Virginia  and  to  take  Norfolk  ;  Scott,  the 
highest  military  authority  in  the  land,  opposes.  Has 


46  DIARY.  [MAY,  1SGI. 

Scott  used  up  his  energy,  his  sense,  and  even  his 
military  judgment  in  defending  Washington  before 
the  inauguration  ?  He  is  too  old  ;  his  brains,  cere 
bellum,  must  be  dried  up. 

Imbecility  in  a  leader  is  often,  nay  always,  more 
dangerous  than  treason  ;  the  people  can  find  out  — 
easily,  too  —  treason,  but  is  disarmed  against  imbe 
cility. 

What  a  thoughtlessness  to  press  on  Russia  the 
convention  of  Paris  ?  Russia  has  already  a  treaty 
with  America,  but  in  case  of  a  war  with  England, 
the  Russian  ports  on  the  Pacific,  and  the  only  one 
accessible  to  Americans,  will  be  closed  to  them  by 
the  convention  of  Paris. 

The  governors  of  the  States  of  Ohio,  Illinois, 
Pennsylvania  assure  the  protection  of  their  respec 
tive  States  to  the  Union  men  of  the  Border  States. 
What  a  bitter  criticism  on  the  slow,  forbearing  pol 
icy  of  the  administration.  Mr.  Lincoln  seems  to  be 
a  rather  slow  intellect,  with  slow  powers  of  percep 
tion.  However,  patience ;  perhaps  the  shock  of 
events  will  arouse  and  bring  in  action  now  latent, 
but  good  and  energetic  qualities.  As  it  stands  now, 
the  administration,  being  the  focus  of  activity,  is 
tepid,  if  not  cold  and  slow ;  the  circumference,  that 
is,  the  people,  the  States,  are  full  of  fire  and  of  activ 
ity.  This  condition  is  altogether  the  reverse  of  the 
physiological  and  all  other  natural  laws,  and  this 
may  turn  out  badly,  as  nature's  laws  never  can  be 
with  impunity  reversed  or  violated. 

The  diplomats  complain  that  Seward  treats  them 


MAY,  1361.]  DIARY.  47 

with  a  certain  rudeness ;  that  he  never  gives  them 
time  to  explain  and  speak,  but  interrupts  by  saying, 
"  I  know  it  all,"  etc.  If  he  had  knowledge  of 
things,  and  of  the  diplomatic  world,  he  would  be 
aware  that  the  more  firmness  he  has  to  use,  the 
more  politeness,  even  fastidiousness,  he  is  to  display. 

Scott  docs  not  wish  for  any  bold  demonstration, 
for  any  offensive  movement.  The  reason  may  be, 
that  he  is  too  old,  too  crippled,  to  be  able  to  take 
the  field  in  person,  and  too  inflated  by  conceit  to 
give  the  glory  of  the  active  command  to  any  other 
man.  Wrote  to  Charles  Sumner  in  Boston  to  stir 
up  some  inventive  Yankee  to  construct  a  wheel 
barrow  in  which  Scott  could  take  the  field  in  person. 

In  a  conversation  with  So  ward,  I  called  his  atten 
tion  to  the  fact  that  the  government  is  surrounded 
by  the  finest,  most  complicated,  intense,  and  well- 
spread  web  of  treason  that  ever  was  spun  ;  that 
almost  all  that  constitutes  society  and  is  in  a  daily, 
nay  hourly,  contact  with  the  various  branches  of 
the  Executive,  all  this,  with  soul,  mind,  and  heart 
is  devoted  to  the  rebels.  I  observed  to  him  that  si 
licet  exemplis  in  parvo  grandibus  uti.  Napoleon  suf 
fered  more  from  the  bitter  hostility  of  the  fau 
bourg  St.  Germain,  than  from  the  armies  of  the 
enemy ;  and  here  it  is  still  worse,  as  this  hostility 
runs  out  into  actual,  unrelenting  treason.  To 
this  Mr.  Seward  answered  with  the  utmost  serenity, 
"  that  before  long  all  this  will  change  ;  that  when  he 
became  governor  of  New  York,  a  similar  hostility  pre 
vailed  between  the  two  sections'  of  that  State,  but 


48  DIARY.  [MAY,  1861. 

soon  he  pacified  everything."  What  a  Merlin ! 
what  a  sorcerer ! 

Some  simple-minded  persons  from  the  interior  of 
the  State  of  New  York  questioned  Mr.  Seward,  in 
my  presence,  about  Europe,  and  "  what  they  will 
do  there  ?  "  To  this,  with  a  voice  of  the  Delphic 
oracle,  he  responded,  "  that  after  all  France  is  not 
bigger  than  the  State  of  New  York."  Is  it  possible 
to  say  such  trash  even  as  a  joke  ? 

Finally,  the  hesitations  of  General  Scott  are  over 
come.  "Virginia's  sacred  soil  is  invaded;"  Potomac 
crossed ;  looks  like  a  beginning  of  activity ;  Scott 
consented  to  move  on  Arlington  Heights,  but  during 
two  or  three  days  opposed  the  seizure  of  Alexandria. 
Is  that  all  that  he  knows  of  that  hateful  watchword 
—  strategy  —  nausea  repeated  by  every  ignoramus 
and  imbecile  ? 

Alexandria  being  a  port  of  entry,  and  having  a 
railroad,  is  more  a  strategic  point  for  the  invasion 
of  Virginia  than  are  Arlington  Heights. 

The  brave  Ellsworth  murdered  in  Alexandria,  and 
Scott  insisted  that  Alexandria  be  invaded  and  occu 
pied  by  night.  In  all  probability,  Ellsworth  would 
not  have  been  murdered  if.  this  villanous  nest  had 
been  entered  by  broad  daylight.  As  if  the  troops 
were  committing  a  crime,  or  a  shameful  act !  O 
General  Scott !  but  for  you  Ellsworth  would  not 
have  been  murdered. 

General  McDowell  made  a  plan  to  seize  upon  Ma- 
nassas  as  the  centre  of  railroads,  the  true  defence 
of  Washington,  and  the  firm  foothold  in  Virginia. 


MAT,  1861.]  D  I^A  R  Y.  49 

Nobody,  or  only  few  enemies,  were  in  Manassas. 
McDowell  shows  his  genuine  military  insight.  Hcott, 
and,  as- 1  am  told,  the  whole  senile  military  council, 
opposed  McDowell's  plan  as  being  too  bold.  Do 
these  mummies  intend  to  conduct  a  war  without 
boldness  ? 

Thick  clouds  of  patriotic,  well-intentioned  harpies 
surround  all  the  issues  of  the  executive  doors,  win 
dows,  crevasses,  all  of  them  ready  to  turn  an 
honest,  or  rather  dishonest,  penny  out  of  the  father 
land.  Behind  the  harpies  advance  the  busy-bodies, 
the  would-be  well-informed,  and  a  promiscuous 
crowd  Qf  well-intentioned  do-nothings. 


JUNE,  1861. 

Butler  emancipates  slaves  — The  army  not  organized  — Promenades  — 
The  blockade  — Louis  Napoleon  —  Scott  all  in  all  —  Strategy !  — Gun 
contracts  —  The  diplomats  — Masked  batteries  — Seward  writes  for 
"bunkum"  — Big  Bethel  — The  Dnyton  letter  —  Instructions  to  Mr. 
Adams. 

THE  emancipation  of  slaves  is  virtually  inaugu 
rated.  Gen.  Butler,  once  a  hard  pro-slavery  Demo 
crat,  takes  the  lead.  Tempora  mutantur  et  nos,  &c. 
Butler  originated  the  name  of  contrabands  of  war 
for  slaves  faithful  to  the  Union,  who  abandon  their 
rebel  masters.  A  logical  Yankee  mind  operates  as 
an  accoucheur  to  bring  that  to  daylight  with  which 
the  events  are  pregnant. 

The  enemies  of  self-government  at  home  and 
abroad  are  untiring  in  vaticinations  that  a  dictatorship 
now,  and  after  the  war  a  strong  centralized  govern 
ment,  will  be  inaugurated.  I  do  not  believe  it. 
Perhaps  the  riddle  to  be  solved  will  be,  to  make  a 
strong  administration  without  modifying  the  princi 
ple  of  self-government. 

The  most  glorious  difference  between  Americans 
and  Europeans  is,  that  in  cases  of  national  emergen 
cies,  every  European  nation,  the  Swiss  exceptcd,  is 
called,  stimulated  to  action,  to  sacrifices,  either  by  a 
chief,  or  by  certain  families,  or  by  some  high-standing 

50 


JUNE,  1801.  DIARY.  51 

individual,  or  by  the  government ;  here  the  people 
forces  upon  the  administration  more  of  all  kinds  of 
sacrifices  than  the  thus  called  rulers  can  grasp,  and 
the  people  is  in  every  way  ahead  of  the  administra 
tion. 

Notwithstanding  that  a  part  of  the  army  crossed 
the  Potomac,  very  little  genuine  organization  is 
done.  They  begin  only  to  organize  brigades,  but 
slowly,  very  slowly.  Gen.  Scott  unyielding  in  his 
opposition  to  organizing  any  artillery,  of  which  the 
army  has  very,  very  little.  This  man  is  incompre 
hensible.  He  cannot  be  a  clear-headed  general  or 
organizer,  or  he  cannot  be  a  patriot. 

As  for  the  past,  single  regiments  are  parading  in 
honor  of  the  President,  of  members  of  the  Cabinet, 
of  married  and  unmarried  ladies,  but  no  military 
preparatory  exercise  of  men,  regiments,  or  brigades. 
It  sickens  to  witness  such  incurie. 

Mr.  Scward  promenading  the  President  from  regi 
ment  to  regiment,  from  camp  to  camp,  or  rather 
showing  up  the  President  and  himself.  Do  they  be 
lieve  they  can  awake  enthusiasm  for  their  persons  ? 
The  troops  could  be  better  occupied  than  to  serve  for 
the  aim  of  a  promenade  for  these  two  distinguished 
personalities. 

Gen.  Scott  refuses  the  formation  of  volunteer 
artillery  and  of  new  cavalry  regiments,  and  the 
active  army,  more  than  20,000  men,  has  a  very  in 
sufficient  number  of  batteries,  and  between  600  and 
800  cavalry.  Lincoln  blindly  follows  his  boss. 
Scward,  of  course,  sustains  Scott,  and  confuses  Lin- 


52  DIARY.  [JUNE,  I  61. 

coin.     Lincoln,  Scott,  Seward  and  Cameron  oppose 

offers  pouring  from  the  country.     To  a  Mr.  M , 

from  the  State  of  New  York,  who  demanded  permis 
sion  to  form  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  Mr.  Lincoln 
angrily  answered,  that  (patriotic)  offers  give  more 
"  trouble  to  him  and  the  administration  than  do  the 
rebels." 

The  debates  of  the  English  Parliament  raise  the 
ire  of  the  people,  nay,  exasperate  even  old  fogyish 
Anglo-manes. 

Persons  very  familiar  with  the  domestic  relations 
of  Gen.  Scott  assure  me  that  the  vacillations  of  the 
old  man,  and  his  dread  of  a  serious  warfare,  result 
from  the  all-powerful  influence  on  him  of  one  of  his 
daughters,  a  rabid  secessionist.  The  old  man  ought 
to  be  among  relics  in  the  Patent  office,  or  sent  into  a 
nursery. 

The  published  correspondence  between  Lord 
Lyons  and  Lord  Russell  concerning  the  blockade 
furnishes  curious  revelations. 

When  the  blockade  was  to  be  declared,  Mr. 
Seward  seems  to  have  been  a  thorough  novice  in 
the  whole  matter,  and  in  an  official  interview  with 
Lord  Lyons,  Mr.  Seward  was  assisted  by  his  chief 
clerk,  who  was  therefore  the  quintessence  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  foreign  affairs,  a  man  not  even  mas 
tering  the  red-tape  traditions  of  the  department, 
without  any  genuine  instruction,  without  ideas. 
For  this  chief  clerk,  all  that  he  knew  of  a  blockade 
was  that  it  was  in  use  during  the  Mexican  war,  that 
it  almost  yearly  occurred  in  South  American  waters, 


JUNE,  1861.]  DIARY.  53 

and  every  tyro  knows  there  exists  such  a  thing  as  a 
blockade.  But  that  was  all  that  this  chief  clerk 
knew.  Lord  Lyons  asked  for  some  special  prece 
dents  or  former  acts  of  the  American  government. 
The  chief,  and  his  support,  the  chief  clerk,  ignored 
the  existence  of  any.  Lord  Lyons  went  home  and 
sent  to  the  department  American  precedents  and 
authorities.  No  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  Eu 
rope,  together  with  his  chief  clerk,  could  ever  be 
caught  in  such  a  flagrante  dclicto  of  ignorance;  This 
chief  clerk  made  Mr.  Scward  make  unpas  de  cfc/r,and 
this  at  the  start.  As  Lord  Lyons  took  a  great  inter 
est  in  the  solution  of  the  question  of  blockade,  and 
as  the  chief  clerk  was  the  oraculum  in  this  question, 
these  combined  facts  may  give  some  clue  to  the 
anonymous  advice  sent  to  Lord  Lyons,  and  mention 
ed  in  the  month  of  April. 

Suggested  to  Mr.  Seward  to  at  o|ice  ^elevate  the 
American  question  to  a  higher  region,  to  represent 
it  to  Europe  in  its  true,  holy  character,  as  a  question 
of  right,  freedom,  and  humanity.  Then  it  will  be 
impossible  for  England  to  quibble  about  technicali 
ties  of  the  international  laws ;  then  we  can  beat 
England  with  her  own  arms  and  words,  as  England 
in  1824,  <tc.,  recognized  the  Greeks  as  belligerents, 
on  the  plea  of  aiding  freedom  and  humanity.  The 
Southern  insurrection  is  a  movement  similar  to  that 
of  the  Neapolitan  brigands,  similar  to  what  parti 
sans  of  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Tuscany  or  Modena 
may  attempt,  similar  to  any — for  argument's  sake 
—  supposed  insurrection  of  any  Russian  bojars 


54  DIARY.  [Ju-VB,  1861. 


against  the  emancipating  Czar.  Not  in  one  from 
among  the  above  enumerated  cases  would  England 
concede  to  the  insurgents  the  condition  of  bellige 
rents.  If  the  Deys  of  Tunis  and  Tripoli  should 
attempt  to  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  the  Sultan 
on  the  plea  that  the  Porte  prohibits  the  slave  traffic, 
would  England  hurry  to  recognize  the  Deys  as 
belligerents  ? 

Suggested  to  Mr.  Seward,  what  two  months  ago  I 
suggested  to  the  President,  to  put  the  commercial 
interests  in  the  Mediterranean,  for  a  time,  under  the 
protection  of  Louis  Napoleon. 

I  maintain  the  right  of  closing  the  ports,  against 
the  partisans  of  blockade.  Qui  jure  suo  utitur 
neminem  Iccdit,  says  the  Roman  jurisconsult. 

The  condition  of  Lincoln  has  some  similarity  with 
that  of  Pio  IX.  in  1847-48.  Plenty  of  good-will, 
but  the  eagle  i»  not  yet  breaking  out  of  the  egg. 
And  as  Pio  IX.  was  surrounded  by  this  or  that  car 
dinal,  so  is  Mr.  Lincoln  by  Seward  and  Scott. 

Perhaps  it  may  turn  out  that  Lincoln  is  honest, 
but  of  not  transcendent  powers.  The  war  may  last 
long,  and  the  military  spirit  generated  by  the  war 
may  in  its  turn  generate  despotic  aspirations. 
Under  Lincoln  in  the  White  House,  the  final  victory 
will  be  due  to  the  people  alone,  and  he,  Lincoln,  will 
preserve  intact  the  principle  which  lifted  him  to 
such  a  height. 

The  people  is  in  a  state  of  the  healthiest  and  most 
generous  fermentation,  but  it  may  become  soured 


JUNE,  1861.]  DIARY.  55 

and  musty  by  the  admixture  of  Scott-Seward  vacil- 
latory  powders. 

Scott  is  all  in  all  —  Minister  or  Secretary  of  War 
and  Commander-in-chief.  How  absurd  to  unite 
those  functions,  as  they  are  virtually  united  here, 
Scott  deciding  all  the  various  military  questions ; 
he  the  incarnation  of  the  dusty,  obsolete,  every 
where  thrown  overboard  and  rotten  routine.  They 
ought  to  have  for  Secretary  of  War,  if  not  a  Car- 
not,  at  least  a  man  of  great  energy,  honesty,  of  strong 
will,  and  of  a  thorough  devotion  to  the  cause.  Sen 
ator  Wade  would  be  suitable  for  this  duty.  Cam 
eron  is  devoted,  but  I  doubt  his  other  capacities  for 
the  emergency,  and  he  has  on  his  shoulders  General 
Scott  as  a  dead  weight. 

Charles  Stunner,  Mr.  Motley,  Dr.  Howe,  and 
many  others,  consider  it  as  a  triumph  that  the  Eng 
lish  Cabinet  asked  Mr.  Gregory  to  postpone  his 
motion  for  the  recognition  of  the  Southern  Confed 
eracy.  Those  gentlemen  here  are  not  deep,  and  are- 
satisfied  with  a  few  small  crumbs  thrown  them  by 
the  English  aristocracy.  Generally,  the  thus-called 
better  Americans  eagerly  snap  at  such  crumbs. 

It  is  clear  that  the  English  Cabinet  wished  this 
postponement  for  its  own  sake.  A  postponement 
spares  the  necessity  to  Russells,  Palmerstons,  Glad 
stones,  and  hoc  genus  omnc,  to  show  their  hands. 
Mr.  Adams  likewise  is  taken  in. 

Military  organization  and  strategic  points  arc  the 
watchwords.  Strategic  points,  strategy,  arc  natural 
excrescences  of  brains  which  thus  shamefully  con- 


56  DIARY.  [Jura,  1861. 

ceive  and  carry  out  what  the  abused  people  believe 
to  be  the  military  organization. 

Strategy  —  strategy  repeats  now  every  imbecile, 
and  military  fuss  covers  its  ignorance  by  that  sacra 
mental  word.  Scott  cannot  have  in  view  the  de 
struction  of  the  rebels.  Not  even  the  Austrian 
Aulic  Council  imagined  a  strategy  combined  and 
stretching  through  several  thousands  of  miles. 

The  people's  strategy  is  best :  to  rush  in  masses 
on  Richmond ;  to  take  it  now,  when  the  enemy  is 
there  in  comparatively  small  numbers.  .  Richmond 
taken,  Norfolk  and  the  lost  guns  at  once  will  be 
recovered.  So  speaks  the  people,  and  they  are 
right ;  here  among  the  wiseacres  not  one  under 
stands  the  superiority  of  the  people  over  his  own 
little  brains. 

Warned  Mr.  Seward  against  making  contracts  for 
arms  with  all  kinds  of  German  agents  from  .New 
York  and  "from  abroad.  They  will  furnish  and 
bring,  at  the  best,  what  the  German  governments 
throw  out  as  being  of  no  use  at  the  present  moment. 
All  the  German  governments  are  at  work  to  reno 
vate  their  fire-arms. 

The  diplomats  more  and  more  confused,  —  some 
of  them  ludicrously  so.  Here,  as  always  and  every 
where,  diplomacy,  by  its  essence,  is  virtually  statu 
quo;  if  not  altogether  retrograde,  is  conservative,  and 
often  ultra  conservative.  It  is  rare  to  witness  diplo 
macy  in  toto,  or  even  single  diplomats,  side  with  pro 
gressive  efforts  and  ideas.  English  diplomacy  and 


JUNE,  1861.]  DIARY.  57 

diplomats  do  it  at  times  ;  but  then  mostly  for  the 
sake  of  political  injrigue. 

Even  the  great  events  of  Italy  are  not  the  child 
of  diplomacy.  It  went  to  work  clopin,  clopan,  after 
Solferino. 

Not  one  of  the  diplomats  here  is  intrinsically  hos 
tile  to  the  Union.  Not  one  really  wishes  its  disrup 
tion.  Some  brag  so,  but  that  is  for  small  effect. 
All  of  them  are  for  peace,  for  statu  quo,  for  the 
grandeur  of  the  country  (as  the  greatest  consumer 
of  European  imports)  ;  but  most  of  them  would 
wish  slavery  to  be  preserved,  and  for  this  reason 
they  would  have  been  glad  to  greet  Breckinridge  or 
Jeff.  Davis  in  the  White  House. 

Some  among  the  diplomats  are  not  virtually  ene 
mies  of  freedom  and  of  the  North ;  but  they  know 
the  North  from  the  lies  spread  by  the  Southerners, 
and  by  this  putrescent  heap  of  refuse,  the  Washing 
ton  society.  I  am  the  only  Northerner  on  a  footing 
of  intimacy  with  the  diplomats.  They  consider  mo 
an  exalte. 

It  must  be  likewise  taken  into  account,  —  and 
they  say  so  themselves,  —  that  Mr.  Seward's  oracu 
lar  vaticinations  about  tliQ  end  of  the  rebellion  from 
sixty  to  ninety  days  confuse  the  judgment  of  diplo 
mats.  Mr.  Seward's  conversation  and  words  have 
an  official  meaning  for  the  diplomats,  are  the  subject 
of  their  dispatches,  and  they  continually  find  that 
when  Mr.  Scward  says  yes  the  events  say  no. 

Some  of  the  diplomats  are  Union  men  out  of 
obedience  to  a  lawful  government,  whatever  it  be ; 


58  DIARY.  [JUNE,  1861. 

others  by  principle.  The  few  from  Central  and 
South  American  republics  are  thoroughly  sound. 
The  diplomats  of  the  great  powers,  representing 
various  complicated  interests,  are  the  more  con 
fused,  they  have  so  many  things  to  consider.  The 
diplomatic  tail,  the  smallest,  insignificant,  fawn  to 
all,  and  turn  as  whirlwinds  around  the  great  ones. 

Scott  continually  refused  the  formation  of  new 
batteries,  and  now  he  roars  for  them,  and  hurries 
the  governors  to  send  them.  Governor  Andrew,  of 
Massachusetts,  weeks  ago  offered  one  or  two  rifled 
batteries,  was  refused,  and  now  Scott  in  all  hurry 
asks  for  them. 

The  unhappy  affair  of  Big  Bethel  gave  a  shock  to 
the  nation,  and  stirred  up  old  Scott,  or  rather  the 
President. 

Aside  of  strategy,  there  is  a  new  bugbear  to 
frighten  the  soldiers ;  this  bugbear  is  the  masked 
batteries.  The  inexperience  of  commanders  at  Big 
Bethel  makes  already  masked  batteries  a  terror  of 
the  country.  The  stupid  press  resounds  the  absurd 
ity.  Now  everybody  begins  to  believe  that  the  whole 
of  Virginia  is  covered  with  masked  batteries,  consti 
tuting,  so  to  speak,  a  subterranean  artillery,  which  is 
to  explode  on  every  step,  under  the  feet  of  our  army. 
It  seems  that  this  error  and  humbug  is  rather  wel 
come  to  Scott,  otherwise  he  would  explain  to  the 
nation  and  to  the  army  that  the  existence  of  nu 
merous  masked  batteries  is  an  absolute  material 
and  military  impossibility.  The  terror  prevailing 
now  may  do  great  mischief. 


JUKE,  1861.]  DIARY.  59 

Mr.  Seward  was  obliged  to  explain,  exonerate, 
expostulate,  and  neutralize  before  the  French  Cabi 
net  his  famous  Dayton  letter.  I  was  sure  it  was  to 
come  to  this ;  Mr.  Thouvcnel  politely  protested, 
and  Mr.  Seward  confessed  that  it  was  written  for 
the  American  market  (alias,  for  bunkum).  All  this 
will  make  a  very  unfavorable  impression  upon  Euro 
pean  diplomats  concerning  Mr.  Scward's  diplomacy 
and  statesmanship,  as  undoubtedly  Mr.  Thouvenel 
will  semiofficially  confidentially  communicate  Mr. 
Scward's  faux  pas  to  his  colleagues. 

Mr.  Seward  emphatically  instructs  Mr.  Adams  to 
exclude  the  question  of  slavery  from  all  his  sayings 
and  doings  as  Minister  to  England.  Just  to  Eng 
land  !  That  Mr.  Adams,  once  the  leader  of  the 
constitutional  anti-slavery  party,  submits  to  this 
obeisance  of  a  corporal,  I  am  not  astonished,  as 
everything  can  be  expected  from  the  man  who,  in 
support  of  the  compromise,  made  a  speech  de  lana 
caprina;  but  Senator  Sumner,  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Foreign  Affairs,  meekly  swallowed  it. 


JULY,   1861. 

The  Evening  Post— The  message— The  administration  caught  napping 
—  McDowell  — Congress  slowly  feels  its  way  — Seward's  great  facil 
ity  of  labor  —  Not  a  Know-Nothing  —  Prophesies  a  speedy  end  —  Car 
ried  away  by  his  imagination  — Says  "secession  is  over"  — Hopeful 
views  — Politeness  of  the  State  department  —  Scott  carries  on  the 
campaign  from  his  sleeping  room—  Bull  Run  —  Rout  —  Panic  —  "  Mal 
ediction!  Malediction!"  —  Not  a  manly  word  in  Congress!  —  Abuse 
of  the  soldiers  — McClellan  sent  for  — Young  blood  — Gen.  Wads- 
worth— Poor  McDowell!  — Scott  responsible  — Plan  of  reorganiza 
tion  —  Let  McClellan  beware  of  routine. 

IT  seems  to  me  that  the  destinies  of  this  admirable 
people  are  in  strange  hands.  Mr.  Lincoln,  honest 
man  of  nature,  perhaps  an  empiric,  doctoring  with 
innocent  juices  from  herbs  ;  but  some  others  around 
him  seem  to  be  quacks  of  the  first  order.  I  wish  I 
may  be  mistaken. 

The  press,  the  thus  called  good  one,  is  vacillat 
ing.  *  Best  of  all,  and  almost  not  vacillating,  is 
the  New  York  Evening  Post.  I  do  not  speak  of 
principles ;  but  the  papers  vacillate,  speaking  of 
the  measures  and  the  slowness  of  the  administra 
tion. 

The  President's  message ;  plenty  of  good,  honest 
intentions ;  simple,  unaffected  wording,  but  a  con- 
fessio^n  that  by  the  attack  on  Sumpter,  and  the  upris 
ing  of  Virginia,  the  administration  was,  so  to  speak, 

60 


JULY,  1861.1  DIARY.  61 

caught  napping.  Further,  up  to  that  day  the  ad 
ministration  did  not  take  any,  the  slightest,  measure 
of  any  kind  for  any  emergency  ;  in  a  word,  that  it 
expected  no  attacks,  no  war,  saw  no  fire,  and  did 
not  prepare  to  meet  and  quench  one. 

It  were,  perhaps,  better  for  Lincoln  if  he  could 
muster  courage  and  act  by  himself  according  to 
his  nature,  rather  than  follow  so  many,  or  even 
any  single  adviser.  Less  and  less  I  understand 
Mr.  Lincoln,  but  as  his  private  secretary  assures  me 
that  Lincoln  has  great  judgment  and  great  energy, 
I  suggested  to  the  secretary  to  say  to  Lincoln  he 
should  be  more  himself. 

Being  tcte-a-tcte  with  McDowell,  I  saw  him  do 
things  of  details  which  in  any,  even  half-way  organ 
ized  army,  belong  to  the  speciality  of  a  chief  of  the 
staff.  I,  of  course,  wondered  at  it.  McDowell,  who 
commands  what  in  Europe  would  be  called  a  large 
corps,  told  me  that  General  Scott  allowed  him  not 
to  form  a  complete  staff,  such  a  one  as  he,  McDow 
ell,  wished. 

And  all  this,  so  to  speak,  on  the  eve  of  a  battle, 
when  the  army  faces  the  enemy.  It  seems  that  gen 
uine  staff  duties  are  something  altogether  unknown 
to  the  military  senility  of  the  army.  McDowell 
received  this  corps  in  the  most  chaotic  state.  Almost 
with  his  own  hands  he  organized,  or  rather  put  to 
gether,  the  artillery.  Brigades  are  scarcely  formed  ; 
the  commanders  of  brigades  do  not  know  their  com 
mands,  and  the  soldiers  do  not  know  their  generals 


62  DIARY.  [JULY,  1861. 

—  and  still  they  consider  Scott  to  be  a  great  gen 
eral  ! 

The  Congress,  well-intentioned,  but  entangled  in 
formulas,  slowly  feels  its  way.  The  Congress  is 
coniposed  of  better  elements  than  is  the  administra 
tion,  and  it  is  ludicrous  to  see  how  the  administra 
tion  takes  airs  of  hauteur  with  the  Congress.  This 
Congress  is  in  an  abnormal  condition  for  the  task  of 
directing  a  revolution  ;  a  formula  can  be  thrown  in 
its  face  almost  at  every  bold  step.  The  administra 
tion  is  virtually  irresponsible,  more  so  than  the  gov 
ernment  of  any  constitutional  nation  whatever. 
What  great  things  this  administration  could  carry 
out !  Congress  will  consecrate,  legalize,  sanction 
everything.  Perhaps  no  harm  would  have  resulted 
if  the  Senate  and  the  House  had  contained  some 
new,  fresher  elements  directly  from  the  boiling,  pop 
ular  cauldron.  Such  men  would  take  a  position  at 
once.  Many  of  the  leaders  in  both  Houses  were 
accustomed  for  many  years  to  make  only  opposition. 
But  a  long  opposition  influences  and  disorganizes 
the  judgment,  forms  not  those  genuine  statesmen 
able  to  grasp  great  events.  For  such  emergencies 
as  are  now  here,  terrible  energy  is  needed,  and  only 
a  very  perfect  mind  resists  the  enervating  influence 
of  a  protracted  opposition. 

Suggested  to  Mr.  Seward  that  the  best  diplomacy 
was  to  take  possession  of  Virginia.  Doing  this,  we 
will  find  all  the  cabinets  smooth  and  friendly. 

I  seldom  saw  a  man  with  greater  facility  of  labor 
than  Seward.  When  once  he  is  at  work,  it  runs 


JULY,  1861.]  DIARY.  63 

torrent-like  from  his  pen.  His  mind  is  elastio.  His 
principal  forte  is  argument  on  any  given  case.  But 
the  question  is  how  far  he  masters  the  variegated 
information  so  necessary  in  a  statesman,  and  the 
more  now,  when  the  country  earnestly  has  such 
dangerous  questions  with  European  cabinets.  He  is 
still  cheerful,  hopeful,  and  prophesies  a  speedy  end. 

Scward  has  no  Know-Nothingism  about  him.  He 
is  easy,  and  may  have  many  genuine  generous  traits 
in  his  character,  were  they  not  compressed  by  the 
habits  of  the,  not  lofty,  politician.  At  present, 
Scward  is  a  moral  dictator ;  he  has  Lincoln  in  his 
hand,  and  is  all  in  all.  Very  likely  he  flatters  him 
and  imposes  upon  his  simple  mind  by  his  over-bold, 
dogmatic,  but  not  over-correct  and  logical,  generali 
zations.  Seward's  finger  is  in  all  the  other  depart 
ments,  but  above  all  in  the  army. 

The  opposition  made  to  Seward  is  not  courageous, 
not  open,  not  dignified.  Such  an  opposition  betrays 
the  weakness  of  the  opposcrs,  and  does  not  inspire 
respect.  It  is  darkly  surreptitious.  These  oppo 
nents  call  Seward  hard  names,  but  do  this  in  a 
corner,  although  most  of  them  have  their  parlia 
mentary  chair  wherefrom  they  can  speak.  If  he 
is  bad  and  mischievous,  then  unite  your  forces  and 
overthrow  him ;  if  he  is  not  bad,  or  if  you  are  not 
strong  enough  against  him,  do  not  cover  yourself 
with  ridicule,  making  a  show  of  impotent  malice. 
When  the  Senate  confirmed  him,  every  one  through 
out  the  land  knew  his  vacillating  policy ;  knew  him 
to  be  for  compromise,  for  concessions ;  knew  that 


64  DIARY.  [JULY,  1861. 

lie  disbelieved  in  the  terrible  earnestness  of  the 
struggle,  and  always  prophesied  its  verj  speedy  end. 
The  Senate  confirmed  Seward  with  open  eyes.  Per 
haps  at  the  start  his  imagination  and  his  patriotism 
made  him  doubt  and  disbelieve  in  the  enormity  of 
treason  —  he  could  not  realize  that  the  traitors  would 
go  to  the  bitter  end.  Seemingly,  Seward  still  hopes 
that  one  day  or  another  they  may  return  as  forlorn 
sheep.  Under  the  like  impressions,  he  always  be 
lieved,  and  perhaps  still  believes,  he  shall  be  able  to 
patch  up  the  quarrel,  and  be  the  savior  of  the  Union. 
Very  probably  his  imagination,  his  ardent  wishes, 
carry  him  away,  and  confuse  that  clear  insight  into 
events  which  alone  constitutes  the  statesman. 

Suggested  to  Sumner  to  demand  the  reduction  of 
the  tariff  on  certain  merchandises,  on  the  plea  of 
fraternity  of  the  working  American  people  with  their 
brethren  the  operatives  all  over  Europe ;  by  it 
principally  I  wished  to  alleviate  the  condition  of 
French  industry,  as  I  have  full  confidence  in  Louis 
Napoleon,  and  in  the  unsophisticated  judgment  of 
the  genuine  French  people.  The  suggestion  did 
not  take  with  the  Senate. 

When  the  July  telegraph  brought  the  news  of  the 
victory  at  Romney  (Western  Virginia),  it  was 
about  midnight.  Mr.  Seward  warmly  congratulated 
the  President  that  "  the  secession  was  over"  What 
a  far-reaching  policy ! 

When  the  struggle  will  be  over,  England,  at  least 
her  Tories,  aristocrats,  and  politicians,  will  find 
themselves  baffled  in  their  ardent  wishes  for  the 


JULY,  1861.]  DIARY.  65 

breaking  of  the  Union.  The  free  States  will  look 
tidy  and  nice,  as  in  the  past.  But  more  than  one 
generation  will  pass  before  ceases  to  bleed  the  wound 
inflicted  by  the  lies,  the  taunts,  the  vituperations, 
poured  in  England  upon  this  noble,  generous,  and 
high-minded  people ;  upon  the  sacred  cause  de 
fended  by  the  freemen. 

These  .freemen  of  America,  up  to  the  present 
time,  incarnate  the  loftiest  principle  in  the  succes 
sive,  progressive,  and  historical  development  of  man. 
Nations,  communities,  societies,  institutions,  stand 
and  fall  with  that  principle,  whatever  it  be,  whereof 
they  are  the  incarnation  ;  so  teaches  us  history. 
Woe  to  these  freemen  if  they  will  recede  from  the 
principle ;  if  they  abandon  human  rights ;  if  they 
do  not  crush  human  bondage,  this  sum  of  all  in 
famies.  Certainly  the  question  paramount  to  all  is, 
to  save  and  preserve  pure  self-government  in  prin 
ciple  and  in  its  direct  application.  But  although 
the  question  of  slavery  seems  to  be  incidental  and 
subordinate  to  the  former,  virtually  the  question  of 
slavery  is  twin  to  the  former.  Slavery  serves  as  a 
basis,  as  a  nurse,  for  the  most  infamous  and  abject 
aristocracy  or  oligarchy  that  was  ever  built  up  in 
history,  and  any,  even  the  best,  the  mildest,  and  the 
most  honest  oligarchy  or  aristocracy  kills  and  de 
stroys  man  and  self-government. 

From  the  purely  administrative  point  of  view, 
the  principle  whose  incarnation  is  the  American 
people,  the  principle  begins  to  be  perverted.  The 
embodiment  of  self-government  fills  dungeons,  sup- 


66  DIARY.  [Jui/i;1861. 

presses  personal  liberty,  opens  letters,  and  in  the 
reckless  saturnalias  of  despotism  it  rivals  many  from 
among  the  European  despots.  Europe,  which  does 
not  see  well  the  causes,  shudders  at  this  delirium 
tremens  of  despotism  in  America. 

Certainly,  treason  being  in  ebullition,  the  holders 
of  power  could  not  stand  by  and  look.  But  instead 
of  an  energetic,  action,  instead  of  exercising  in  full 
the  existing  laws,  they  hesitated,  and  treason,  em 
boldened,  grew  over  their  heads. 

The  law  inflicted  the  severest  capital  punishment 
on  the  chiefs  of  the  revolt  in  Baltimore,  but  all  went 
off  unharmed.  The  administration  one  day  willing 
ly  allows  the  law  to  slide  from  its  lap,  and  the  next 
moment  grasps  at  an  unnecessary  arbitrary  power. 
Had  the  traitors  of  Baltimore  been  tried  by  court- 
martial,  as  the  law  allowed,  and  punished,  few,  if 
any,  traitors  would  then  have  raised  their  heads  in 
the  North. 

Englishmen  forget  that  even  after  a  secession, 
the  North,  to-day  twenty  millions,  as  large  as  the 
whole  Union  eight  years  ago,  will  in  ten  years  be 
thirty  millions  ;  a  population  rich,  industrious,  and 
hating  England  with  fury. 

Seward,  having  complete  hold  of  the  President, 
weakens  Lincoln's  mind  by  using  it  up  in  hunting 
after  comparatively  paltry  expedients.  Se ward- 
Scott's  influence  neutralizes  the  energetic  cry  of 
the  country,  of  the  congressmen,  and  in  the  Cabinet 
that  of  Blair,  who  is  still  a  trump. 

The  emancipation  of  slaves  is  spoken  of  as  an 


JULY,  1861.]  DIARY.  67 

expedient,  but  not  as  a  sacred  duty,  even  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Union.  To  emancipate  through 
the  war  power  is  an  offence  to  reason,  logic,  and 
humanity  ;  but  better  even  so  than  not  at  all.  War 
power  is  in  its  nature  violent,  transient,  established 
for  a  day ;  emancipation  is  the  highest  social  and 
economical  solution  to  be  given  by  law  and  reason, 
and  ought  to  result  from  a  thorough  and  mature 
deliberation.  When  the  Constitution  was  framed, 
slavery  was  ashamed  of  itself,  stood  in  the  corner, 
had  no  paws.  Now-a-days,  slavery  has  become  a 
traitor,  is  arrogant,  blood-thirsty,  worse  than  a 
jackal  and  a  hyena  ;  deliberately  slavery  is  a  matri 
cide.  And  they  still  talk  of  slavery  as  sheltered  by 
the  Constitution;  and  many  once  anti-slavery  men 
like  Seward,  etc.,  are  ready  to  preserve  it,  to  com 
promise  with  the  crime. 

The  existence  of  nations  oscillates  between  epochs 
when  the  substance  and  when  the  form  prevails. 
The  formation  of  America  was  the  epoch  when  sub 
stance  prevailed.  Afterward,  for  more  than  half  a 
century,  the  form  was  paramount ;  the  term  of 
substance  again  begins.  The  Constitution  is  sub 
stance  and  form.  The  substance  in  it  is  peren 
nial  ;  but  every  form  is  transient,  and  must  be  ex 
panded,  changed,  re-cast. 

Few,  if  any,  Americans  are  aware  of  the  identity 
of  laws  ruling  the  universe  with  laws  ruling  and 
prevailing  in  the  historical  development  of  man. 
Rarely  has  an  American  patience  enough  to  ascend 
the  long  chain  from  effect  to  cause,  until  he  reaches 


68  DIARY.  [JULY,  1861. 

the  first  cause,  the  womb  wherein  was  first  genera 
ted  the  subsequent  distant  effect.  So,  likewise,  they 
cannot  realize  that  at  the  start  the  imperceptible 
deviation  from  the  aim  by  and  by  widens  to  a  bot 
tomless  gap  until  the  aim  is  missed.  Then  the 
greatest  and  the  most  devoted  sacrifices  are  useless. 
The  legal  conductors  of  the  nation,  since  March  6th, 
ignore  this  law. 

The  foreign  ministers  here  in  Washington  were 
astonished  at  the  politeness,  when  some  time  ago  the 
Department  sent  to  the  foreign  ministers  a  circular 
announcing  to  them  that  armed  vessels  of  the  neu 
trals  will  be  allowed  to  enter  at  pleasure  the  rebel 
blockaded  ports.  This  favor  was  not  asked,  not 
hoped  for,  and  was  not  necessary.  It  was  too  late 
when  I  called  the  attention  of  the  Department  to 
the  fact  that  such  favors  were  very  seldom  granted ; 
that  they  arc  dangerous,  and  can  occasion  compli 
cations.  I  observed  that  during  the  war  between 
Mexico  and  France,  in  1838,  Count  Mole,  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  the  Premier  of  Louis  Phil 
ippe,  instructed  the  admiral  commanding  the  French 
navy  in  the  Mexican  waters,  to  oppose,  even  by 
force,  any  attempt  made  by  a  neutral  man-of-war  to 
enter  a  blockaded  port.  And  it  was  not  so  danger 
ous  then  as  it  may  be  in  this  civil  war.  But  the 
chief  clerk  adviser  of  the  Department  found  out 
that  President  Polk's  administration  during  the  Mex 
ican  war  granted  a  similar  permission,  and,  glad  to 
have  a  precedent,  his  powerful  brains  could  not  find 
out  the  difference  between  then  and  now. 


JULY,  1861.]  DIARY.  69 

,  The  internal  routine  of  the  ministry,  and  the 
manner  in  which  oiir  ministers  are  treated  abroad 
by  the  Chief  at  home,  is  very  strange,  humiliating 
to  our  agents  in  the  eyes  of  foreign  Cabinets.  Cas- 
sius  Clay  was  instructed  to  propose  to  Russia  our 
accession  to  the  convention  of  Paris,  but  was  not 
informed  from  Washington  that  our  ministers  at 
Paris,  London,  etc.,  were  to  make  the  same  propo 
sitions.  When  Prince  Gortschakoff  asked  Cassius 
Clay  if  similar  propositions  were  made  to  the  other 
cosigners  of  the  Paris  convention,  our  minister  was 
obliged  to  confess  his  utter  ignorance  about  the 
whole  proceeding.  Prince  Gortschakoff  good-na 
turedly  inquired  about  it  from  his  ministers  at  Paris 
and  London,  and  enlightened  Cassius  Clay. 

No  ministry  of  foreign  affairs  in  Europe  would 
treat  its  agents  in  such  a  trifling  manner,  and,  if 
done,  a  minister  would  resent  it. 

This  mistake,  or  recklessness,  is  to  be  credited 
principally  to  the  internal  chief,  or  director  of  the 
department,  and  not  to  the  minister  himself.  By 
and  by,  the  chief  clerks,  these  routinists  in  the  for 
mer  coarse  traditions  of  the  Democratic  administra 
tions,  will  learn  and  acquire  better  diplomatic  and 
bureaucratic  habits. 

If  one  calls  the  attention  of  influential  Americans 
to  the  mismanagement  in  the  organization  of  the 
army  ;  to  the  extraordinary  way  in  which  everything, 
as  organization  of  brigades,  and  the  inner  service, 
the  quartermaster's  duty,  is  done,  the  general  and 
inevitable  answer  is,  "  We  are  not  military ;  we  are 


70  DIARY.  JULV,  1861. 

young  people ;  we  have  to  learn. "  Granted ;  but 
instead  of  learning  from  the  best,  the  latest,  and 
most  correct  authorities,  why  stick  to  an  obsolete, 
senile,  musty,  rotten,  mean,  and  now-a-days  imprac 
ticable  routine,  which  is  all-powerful  in  all  re 
lating  to  the  army  and  to  the  war  ?  The  Ameri 
cans  may  pay  dear  for  thus  reversing  the  rules  of 
common  sense. 

General  Scott  directs  from  his  sleeping  room  the 
movements  of  the  two  armies  on  the  Potomac  and 
in  the  Shenandoah  valley.  General  Scott  has  given 
the  order  to  advance.  At  least  a  strange  way,  to 
have  the  command  of  battle  at  a  distance  of  thirty 
and  one  hundred  miles,  and  stretched  on  his  fau- 
teuil.  Marshal  de  Saxe,  although  deadly  sick,  was 
on  the  field  at  Fontenoy.  What  will  be  the  result 
of  this  experimentalization,  so  contrary  to  sound 
reason  ? 

Fighting  at  Bull  Run.  One  o'clock,  P.  M.  Good 
news.  Gen.  Scott  says  that  although  we  were  40-100 
in  disadvantage,  nevertheless  his  plans  are  successful 
—  all  goes  as  he  arranged  it  —  all  as  he  foresaw  it. 
Bravo !  old  man  !  If  so,  I  make  amende  honorable 
of  all  that  I  said  up  to  this  minute.  Two  o'clock, 
p.  M.  General  Scott,  satisfied  with  the  justness  and 
success  of  his  strategy  and  tactics  —  takes  a  hap. 

Evening.  Battle  lost ;  rout,  panic.  The  army 
almost  disbanded,  in  full  run.  So  say  the  forerun 
ners  of  the  accursed  news.  Malediction  1  Maledic 
tion  ! 

What  a  horrible  night  and  day  !  rain  and  cold ; 


JULY,  1861.]  DIARY.  71 

stragglers  and  disbanded  soldiers  in  every  direction, 
and  no  order,  nobody  to  gather  the  soldiers,  or  to 
take  care  of  them. 

As  if  there  existed  not  any  military  or  adminis 
trative  authority  in  Washington  !  Under  the  eyes 
of  the  two  commanders-in-chief !  Oh,  senility,  im 
becility,  ignominy  !  In  Europe,  a  commander  of  a 
city,  or  any  other  military  authority  whatever,  who 
should  behave  in  such  a  way,  would  be  dismissed, 
nay,  expelled,  from  military  service.  What  I  can 
gather  is,  that  the  enemy  was  in  full  retreat  in  the 
centre  and  on  one  flank,  when  he  was  reinforced  by 
fresh  troops,  who  outflanked  and  turned  ours.  If 
so,  the  panic  can  be  explained.  Even  old  veteran 
troops  generally  run  when  they  are  outflanked. 

Johnston,  whom  Patterson  permitted  to  slip,  came 
to  the  rescue  of  Beauregard.  So  they  say.  It  is 
en  petit  Waterloo,  with  Blucher-Johnston,  and  Grou 
chy-Patterson.  But  had  Napoleon's  power  survived 
after  Waterloo,  Grouchy,  his  chief  of  the  staff,  and 
even  Ney,*  for  the  fault  at  Quatre-bras,  would  have 
been  court-martialed  and  shot.  Here  these  blind 
Americans  will  thank  Scott  and  Patterson. 

Others  say  that  a  bold  charge  of  cavalry  arrived 
on  our  rear,  and  threw  in  disorder  the  wagons  and 
the  baggage  gang.  That  is  nothing  new ;  at  the 
battle  of  Borodino  some  Cossacks,  pouncing  upon 
the  French  baggage,  created  a  panic,  which  for  a 

*  That  such  would  have  been  the  presumed  fate  of  Xey  at  the  hands  of 
Napoleon,  I  was  afterwards  assured  by  the  old  Duke  of  Bassauo,  and  by 
the  Duchess  Abrantes. 


72  DIARY.  JULY,  1861. 

moment  staggered  Napoleon,  and  prevented  him  in 
time  from  reinforcing  Ney  and  Davoust.  But  Mc 
Dowell  committed  a  fault  in  putting  his  baggage 
train,  the  ambulances  excepted,  on  a  road  between 
the  army  and  its  reserves,  which,  in  such  a  manner, 
came  not  in  action.  By  and  by  I  shall  learn  more 
about  it. 

The  Congress  has  made  a  worse  Bull  Run  than 
the  soldiers.  Not  a  single  manly,  heroic  word 
to  the  nation  and  the  army.  As  if  unsuccess 
always  was  dishonor.  This  body  groped  its  way, 
and  was  morally  stunned  by  the  blow ;  the  would-be 
leaders  more  than  the  mass. 

Suggested  to  Sumner  to  make,  as  the  Romans 
did,  a  few  stirring  words  on  account  of  the  defeat. 

Some  mean  fellows  in  Congress,  who  never  smelt 
powder,  abused  the  soldiers.  Those  fellows  would 
have  been  the  first  to  run.  Others,  still  worse,  to 
show  their  abject  flunkeyism  to  Scott,  and  to  hum 
bug  the  public  at  large  about  their  intimacy  with 
this  fetish,  make  speeches  in  his  defence.  Scott 
broadly  prepared  the  defeat,  and  now,  through  the 
mouths  of  flunkeys  and  spit-lickers,*  he  attempts  to 
throw  the  fault  on  the  thus  called  politicians. 

The  President  telegraphed  for  McClellan,  who  in 


*  Foremost  among  them  was  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Times,  pub 
lishing  a  long  article  wherein  he  proved  that  he  had  been  admitted  to 
General  Scott's  table,  and  that  the  General  unfolded  to  him,  the  editor, 
the  great  anaconda  strategy.  Exactly  the  thing  to  be  admired  and  gulped, 
by  a  man  of  such  variegated  information  as  that  individual. 

That  little  villianish  "  article  "  had  a  second  object  :  it  was  to  filch  sub 
scribers  from  the  Tribune,  which  broke  down,  not  over  courageously. 


JULY,  1861.]  D I A  R  T.  73 

the  West,  showed  rapidity  of  movement,  the  first  and 
most  necessary  capacity  for  a  commander.  Young 
blood  will  be  infused,  and  perhaps  senility  will  be 
thrown  overboard,  or  sent  to  the  Museum  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institute. 

At  Bull  Run  the  foreign  regiments  ran  not,  but 
covered  the  retreat.  And  Scott,  and  worse  than  he, 
Thomas,  this  black  spot  in  the  War  Department,  both 
are  averse  to,  and  when  they  can  they  humiliate,  the 
foreigners..  A  member  of  Congress,  in  search  of  a 
friend,  went  for  several  miles  up  the  stream  of  the 
fugitive  army ;  great  was  his  astonishment  to  hear 
spoken  by  the  fugitives  only  the  unmixed,  pure 
Anglo-Saxon. 

My  friend,  J.  Wadsworth,  behaved  cool,  brave,  on 
the  field,  and  was  devoted  to  the  wounded.  Now, 
as  always,  he  is  the  splendid  type  of  a  true  man  of 
the  people. 

Poor,  unhappy  McDowell!  During  the  days 
when  he  prepared  the  army,  he  was  well  aware  that 
an  eventual  success  would  be  altogether  attributed 
to  Scott ;  but  that  he,  McDowell,  would  be  the 
scapegoat  for  the  defeat.  Already,  when  on  Sunday 
morning  the  news  of  the  first  successes  was  known, 
Scott  swallowed  incense,  and  took  the  whole  credit 
of  it  to  himself.  Now  he  accuses  the  politicians. 

Once  more.  Scott  himself  prepared  the  defeat. 
Subsequent  elucidation  will  justify  this  assertion. 
One  thing  is  already  certain :  one  of  the  reasons  of 
the  lost  battle  is  the  exhaustion  of  troops  which 
fought  —  and  the  number  here  in  Washington  is 


74  DIARY.  [JULY,  1861. 

more  than  50,000  men.  Only  an  imbecile  would 
divide  the  forces  in  such  a  way  as  to  throw  half  of  it 
to  attack  a  superior  and  entrenched  enemy.  But 
Scott  wished  to  shape  the  great  events  of  the  coun 
try  in  accordance  with  his  narrow,  ossified  brains, 
and  with  his  peculiar  patriotism;  and  he  did  the 
same  in  the  conduct  of  the  war. 

I  am  sure  some  day  or  other  it  will  come  out  that 
this  immense  fortification  of  Manassas  is  a  similar 
humbug  to  the  masked  batteries ;  and  Scott  was  the 
first  to  aggrandize  these  terrible  national  nightmares. 
Already  many  soldiers  say  that  they  did  not  see  any 
fortifications.  Very  likely  only  small  earthworks ; 
if  so,  Scott  ought  to  have  known  what  was  the  posi 
tion  and  the  works  of  an  enemy  encamped  about 
thirty  miles  from  him.  If  he,  Scott,  was  ignorant, 
then  it  shows  his  utter  imbecility ;  if  he  knew  that 
the  fortifications  were  insignificant,  and  did  not  tell 
it  to  the  troops,  then  he  is  worse  than  an  incapable 
chief.  Up  to  the  present  day,  all  the  military 
leaders  of  ancient  and  modern  times  told  their  troops 
before  a  battle  that  the  enemy  is  not  much  after  all, 
and  that  the  difficulties  to  overcome  are  rather 
insignificant.  After  the  battle  was  won,  everything 
became  aggrandized.  Here  everybody,  beginning 
with  Scott,  ardently  rivalled  how  to  scare  and 
frighten  the  volunteers,  by  stories  of  the  masked 
batteries  of  Manassas,  with  its  several  tiers  of  fortifi 
cations,  the  terrible  superiority  of  the  Southerners, 
etc.,  etc.  In  Europe  such  behavior  would  be  called 
treason. 


JULY,  1861.]  D  I  A  R  Y.  75 

The  administration  and  the  influential  men  can 
not  realize  that  they  must  give  up  their  old,  stupid, 
musty  routine.  McClellan  ought  to  be  altogether 
independent  of  Scott ;  be  untranimcllcd  in  his  activi 
ty  ;  have  large  powers  ;  have  direct  action  ;  and  not 
refer  to  Scott.  What  is  this  wheel  within  a  wheel  ? 
Instead  of  it,  Scott,  as  by  concession,  cuts  for 
McClellan  a  military  department  of  six  square 
miles.  Oh,  human  stupidity,  how  difficult  thou  art 
to  lift ! 

Scott  will  paralyze  McClellan  as  he  did  Lyon  and 
Butler.  Scott  always  pushed  on  his  spit-lickcrs, 
or  favorites,  rotten  by  old  age.  But  Scott  has 
pushed  aside  such  men  as  Wool  and  Col.  Smith  ; 
refused  the  services  of  many  brave  as  Hooker  and 
others,  because  they  never  belonged  to  his  flunkeys. 

Send  to  McClellan  a  plan  for  the  reorganization 
of  the  army. 

1st.  True  mastership  consists  in  creating  an  army 
with  extant  elements,  and  not  in  clamoring  for 
what  is  altogether  impossible  to  obtain. 

2d.  The  idea  is  preposterous  to  try  to  have  a 
large  thus-called  regular  army.  A  small  number, 
fifteen  to  twenty  thousand  men,  divided  among  sev 
eral  hundreds  of  thousands  of  volunteers,  would  be 
as  a  drop  of  water  in  a  lake.  Besides,  this  war  is 
to  be  decided  by  the  great  masses  of  the  volunteers, 
and  it  is  uncivic  and  unpatriotic  to  in  any  way 
nourish  the  wickedly-assumed  discrimination  be 
tween  regulars  and  volunteers. 

3d.  Good  non-commissioned  officers    and    corpo- 


76  DIARY.  [JULY,  1861. 

rals  constitute  the  sole,  sound,  and  easy  articulations 
of  a  regiment.  Any  one  who  ever  was  in  action  is 
aware  of  this  truth.  With  good  non-commissioned 
officers,  even  ignorant  lieutenants  do  very  little 
harm.  The  volunteer  regiments  ought  to  have  as 
many  good  sergeants  and  corporals  as  possible. 

4th.  To  provide  for  this  want,  and  for  reasons 
mentioned  above,  the  relics  of  the  regular  army 
ought  to  be  dissolved.  Let  us  have  one  army,  as 
the  enemy  has. 

5th.  All  the  rank  and  file  of  the  army  ought  to 
be  made  at  once  corporals  and  sergeants,  and  be  dis 
tributed  as  much  as  possible  among  the  volunteers. 

6th.  The  non-commissioned  regulars  ought  to  be 
made  commissioned  officers,  and  with  officers  of  all 
grades  be  distributed  and  merged  in  the  one  great 
army. 

For  the  first  time  since  the  armaments,  I  enjoyed 
a  genuine  military  view.  McClellan,  surrounded 
as  a  general  ought  to  be,  went  to  see  the  army.  It 
looks  martial.  The  city,  likewise,  has  a  more  mar 
tial  look  than  it  had  all  the  time  under  Scott.  It 
seems  that  a  young,  strong  hand  holds  the  ribbons. 
God  grant  that  McClellan  may  preserve  his  western 
vigor  and  activity,  and  may  not  become  softened  and 
dissolved  by  these  Washington  evaporations.  If  he 
does,  if  he  follows  the  routine,  he  will  become  as  im 
potent  as  others  before  him.  Young  man,  beware  of 
Washington's  corrupt  but  flattering  influences.  To 
the  camp  !  to  the  camp  !  A  tent  is  better  for  you 
than  a  handsome  house.  The  tent,  the  fumes  of 


JULY,  1861.]  DIARY.  77 

bivouacs,  inspired  the   Fredericks,  the   Napoleons, 
and  Washingtons. 

Up  to  this  day  they  make  more  history  in  Scces- 
sia  than  here.  Jeff'.  Davis  overshadows  Lincoln. 
Jeff.  Davis  and  his  gang  of  malefactors  are  pushed 
into  the  whirlpool  of  action  by  the  nature  of  their 
crime ;  here,  our  leaders  dread  action,  and  grope. 
The  rebels  have  a  clear,  decisive,  almost  palpable 
aim  •;  but  here  *  * 


AUGUST,   1861. 

The  truth  about  Bull  Run— The  press  staggers  —  The  Blairs  alone  firm 
—  Scott's  military  character  —  Seward  —  Mr.  Lincoln  reads  the  Her 
ald —  The  ubiquitous  lobbyist  —  Intervention. —  Congress  adjourns  — 
The  administration  waits  for  something  to  turn  up  —  Wade  —  Lyonis 
killed —  Russell  and  his  shadow  — The  Yankees  take  the  loan  —  Bra 
vo,  Yankees!  —  McClellan  works  hard  —  Prince  Napoleon  —  Manas- 
sas  fortifications  a  humbug  —  Mr.  Seward  improves  —  Old  Whigism  — 
McClellan's  powers  enlarged— Jeff.  Davis  makes  history  — Fremont 
emancipates  in  Missouri  —  The  Cabinet. 

THE  truth  about  Bull  Run  will,  perhaps,  only 
reach  the  people  when  it  becomes  reduced  to  an 
historical  use.  I  gather  what  I  am  sure  is  true. 

About  three  weeks  ago  General  McDowell  took 
upon  himself  the  responsibility  to  attack  the  enemy 
concentrated  at  Manassas.  Deciding  upon  this 
step,"  McDowell  showed  the  determination  of  a  true 
soldier,  and  a  cool,  intelligent  courage.  Accord 
ing  to  rumors  permeating  the  whole  North  ;  rumors 
originated  by  secessionists  in  and  around  Washing 
ton,  and  in  various  parts  of  the  free  States  ;  rumors 
gulped  by  a  part  of  the  press,  and  never  contra 
dicted,  but  rather  nursed,  at  headquarters,  Manas 
sas  was  a  terrible,  unknown,  mysterious  something ; 
a  bugbear,  between  a  fortress  made  by  art  and  a 
natural  fastness,  whose  approaches  were  defended 
for  miles  by  numberless  masked  batteries,  and  which 

78 


AUGUST,  1861.]  DIARY.  79 

was  filled  by  countless  thousands  of  the  most  fero 
cious  warriors.  Such  was  Manassas  in  public  opin 
ion  when  McDowell  undertook  to  attack  this  for 
midable  American  Torres  Vedras,  and  this  with  the 
scanty  and  almost  unorganized  means  in  men  and 
artillery  allotted  to  him  by  the  senile  wisdom  of 
General  Scett.  General  McDowell  obtained  the 
promise  that  Beauregard  alone  was  to  be  before 
him.  To  fulfil  this  promise,  General  Scott  was  to 
order  Patterson  to  keep  Johnston,  and  a  movement 
was  to  be  made  011  the  James  River,  so  as  to  pre 
vent  troops  coming  from  Richmond  to  Manassas. 
As  it  was  already  said,  Patterson,  a  special  favorite 
of  General  Scott,  kindly  allowed  Johnston  to  save 
Beauregard,  and  Jeff.  Davis  with  troops  from  Rich, 
mond  likewise  was  on  the  spot.  McDowell  planned 
his  plan  very  skilfully  ;  no  European  general  would 
have  done  better,  and  I  am  sure  that  such  will  be 
the  verdict  hereafter.  Some  second-rate  mistakes  in 
the  execution  did  not  virtually  endanger  its  suc 
cess  ;  but,  to  say  the  truth,  McDowell  and  his  army 
were  defeated  by  the  imbecility  of  the  supreme 
military  authority.  Imbecility  stabbed  them  in  the 
back. 

One  part  of  th*  press,  stultified  and  stupefied, 
staggered  under  the  blow;  the  other  part  showed 
its  utter  degradation  by  fawning  on  Scott  and  at 
tacking  the  Congress,  or  its  best  part.  The  Even 
ing  Post  staggered  not ;  its  editors  are  genuine,  la 
borious  students,  and,  above  all,  students  of  history. 
The  editors  of  the  other  papers  arc  politicians ; 


80  DIARY.  [AUGUST,  1861. 

some  of  them  are  little,  others  are  big  villains. 
All,  intellectually,  belong  to  the  class  called  in 
America  more  or  less  well-read  men ;  information 
acquired  by  reading,  but  which  in  itself  is  not 
much. 

The  Brothers  Blair,  almost  alone,  receded  not,  and 
put  the  defeat  where  it  belonged  —  at.  the  feet  of 
General  Scott. 

The  rudis  indigestaque  moles,  torn  away  from 
Scott's  hands,  already  begins  to  acquire  the  shape 
of  an  army.  Thanks  to  the  youth,  the  vigor,  and 
the  activity  of  McClellan. 

General  Scott  throws  the  whole  disaster  on  poli 
ticians,  and  abuses  them.  How  ungrateful.  His 
too  lofty  pedestal  is  almost  exclusively  the  work  of 
politicians.  I  heard  very,  very  few  military  men  in 
America  consider  Scott  a  man  of  transcendent  mili 
tary  capacity.  Years  ago,  during  the  Crimean 
campaign,  I  spent  some  time  at  West  Point  in  the 
society  of  Cols.  Robert  Lee,  Walker,  Hardee,  then 
in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  now  trai 
tors;  not  one  of  them  classed  Scott  much  higher 
above  what  would  be  called  a  respectable  capacity ; 
and  of  which,  as  they  said,  there  are  many,  many  in 
every  European  army.  * 

If  one  analyzes  the  Mexican  campaign,  it  will  be 
found  that  General  Scott  had,  comparatively,  more 
officers  than  soldiers ;  the  officers  young  men,  full 
of  vigor,  and  in  the  first  gush  of  youth,  who  there 
fore  mightily  facilitated  the  task  of  the  commander. 
Their  names  resound  to-day  in  both  the  camps. 


AUGUST,  1861.]  DIARY.  81 

Further,  generals  from  the  campaign  in  Mexico 
assert  that  three  of  the  won  battles  were  fought 
against  orders,  which  signifies  that  in  Mexico  youth 
had  the  best  of  cautious  senility.  It  was  accord 
ing  to  the  law  of  nature,  and  for  it  it  was  crowned 
with  success. 

Mr.  Seward  has  a  very  active  intellect,  an  excel 
lent  man  for  current  business,  easy  and  clear-headed 
for  solving  any  second-rate  complications ;  but  as 
for  his  initiative,  that  is  another  question.  Hith 
erto  his  initiative  does  not  tell,  but  rather  confuses. 
Then 'ho  sustains  Scott,  some  say,  for  future  politi 
cal  capital.  If  so  it  is  bad ;  worse  still  if  Mr.  Sew 
ard  sustains  Scott  on  the  ground  of  high  military 
fitness,  as  it  is  impossible  to  admit  that  Mr.  Seward 
knows  anything  about  military  affairs,  or  that  he 
ever  studied  the  description  of  any  battle.  At  least, 
I  so  judge  from  his  conversation. 

Mr.  Lincoln  has  already  the 'fumes  of  greatness, 
and  looks  down  on  the  press,  reads  no  paper,  that 
dirty  traitor  the  New  York  Herald  excepted.  So,  at 
least,  it  is  generally  stated. 

The  enemies  of  Seward  maintain  that  he,  Seward, 
drilled  Lincoln  into  it,  to  make  himself  more  ne 
cessary. 

Early,  even  before  the  inauguration,  McDowell 
suggested  to  General  Scott  to  concentrate  in  Wash 
ington  the  small  army,  the  depots  scattered  in  Texas 
and  New  Mexico.  Scott  refused,  and  this  is  called 
a  general !  God  preserve  any  cause,  any  people 


82  DIARY.  [AUGUST,  1861. 

who  have  for  a  savior  a  Scott,  together  with  his  civil 
and  military  partisans. 

If  it  is  not  direct,  naked  treason  which  prevails 
among  the  nurses,  and  the  various  advisers  of  the 
people,  imbecility,  narrow-mindedness,  do  the  same 
work.  •  Further,  the  way  in  which  many  leech,  phle 
botomize,  cheat  and  steal  the  people's  treasury,  is 
even  worse  than  rampant  treason.  I  heard  a  Boston 
shipbuilder  complain  to  Sumner  that  the  ubiquitous 
lobbyist,  Thurlow  Weed,  was  in  his,  the  builder's, 
way  concerning  some  contracts  to  be  made  in  the 
Navy  Department,  etc.,  etc.  Will  it  turn  out  that 
the  same  men  who  are  to-day  at  the  head  of  affairs 
will  be  the  men  who  shall  bring  to  an  end  this  re 
volt  or  revolution  ?  It  ought  not  to  be,  as  it  is 
contrary  to  logic,  and  to  human  events. 

Lincoln  alone  must  forcibly  remain,  he  being  one 
of  the  incarnated  formulas  of  the  Constitution,  en 
dowed  with  a  specific,  four  years'  lasting  existence. 

The  Americans  are  nervous  about  foreign  inter 
vention.  It  is  difficult  to  make  them  understand 
that  no  intervention  is  to  be,  and  none  can  be  made. 
Therein  the  press  is  as  silly  as  the  public  at  large. 
Certainly  France  does  not  intend  any  meddling  or 
intervention  ;  of  this  I  am  sure.  Neither  does  Eng 
land  seriously. 

Next,  if  these  two  powers  should  even  thirst  for 
such  an  injustice,  they  have  no  means  to  do  it.  If 
they  break  our  blockades,  we  make  war,  and  ex 
clude  them  from  the  Northern  ports,  whose  com 
merce  is  more  valuable  to  them  than  that  of  the 


AUGUST,  1861.]  DIARY.  83 

South.  I  do  not  believe  the  foreign  powers  to  be 
forgetful  of  their  interest ;  they  know  better  their 
interests  than  the  Americans. 

The  Congress  adjourned,  abandoning,  with  a  con 
fidence  unparalleled  in  history,  the  affairs  of  the 
country  in  the  hands  of  the  not  over  far-sighted  ad 
ministration.  The  majority  of  the  Congress  arc 
good,  and  fully  and  nobly  represent  the  pure,  clear 
and  sure  aspirations,  instincts,  nay,  the  clear-sighted 
ness  of  the  people.  In  the  Senate,  as  in  the  House, 
arc  many,  very  many  true  men,  and  men  of  pure 
devotion,  and  of  clear  insight  into  the  events  ;  men 
superior  to  the  administration  ;  such  are,  above  all, 
those  senators  and  representatives  who  do  not  at 
tempt  or  aim  to  sit  on  a  pedestal  before  the  public, 
before  the  people,  but  wish  the  thing  to  be  done  for 
the  thing  itself.  But  for  the  formula  which  chains 
their  hands,  feet,  and  intellect,  the  Congress  con 
tained  several  men  who,  if  they  could  act,  would 
finish  the  secession  in  a  double-quick  time.  But 
the  whole  people  move  in  the  treadmill  of  formulas. 
•It  is  a  pity  that  they  are  not  inspired  by  the  axiom 
of  the  Roman  legist,  scire  leges  non  est  hoc  verba 
ear-urn  tenere,  sed  vim  ac  potestatem.  Congress  had 
positive  notions  of  what  ought  to  be  done ;  the  ad 
ministration,  Micawber-like,  looks  for  that  something 
which  may  turn  up,  and  by  expedients  patches  all 
from  day  to  day. 

What  may  turn  up  nobody  can  foresee  ;  matter 
alone  without  mind  cannot  carry  the  day.  The 
people  have  the  mind,  but  the  official  legal  leaders 


84  DIARY.  [AUGUST,  1861. 

a  very  small  portion  of  it.  Come  what  will,  I  shall 
not  break  down  ;  I  shall  not  give  up  the  holy  prin 
ciple.  If  crime,  rebellion,  sauvagerie,  triumph,  it 
will  be,  not  because  the  people  failed,  but  it  will  be 
because  mediocrities  were  at  the  helm.  Concessions, 
compromises,  any  patched-up  peace,  will  for  a  cen 
tury  degrade  the  name  of  America.  Of  course,  I 
cannot  prevent  it ;  but  events  have  often  broken 
but  not  bent  me.  I  may  be  burned,  but  I  cannot 
be  melted ;  so  if  secesh  succeeds,  I  throw  in  a  cess 
pool  my  document  of  naturalization,  and  shall  re 
turn  to  Europe,  even  if  working  my  passage. 

It  is  maddening  to  read  all  this  ignoble  clap-trap, 
written  by  European  wiseacres  concerning  this  coun 
try.  Not  one  knows  the  people,  not  one  knows  the 
accidental  agencies  which  neutralize  what  is  grand 
and  devoted  in  the  people. 

Some  are  praised  here  as  statesmen  and  leaders. 
A  statesman,  a  leader  of  such  a  people  as  are  the 
Americans,  and  in  such  emergencies,  must  be  a  man 
in  the  fullest  and  loftiest  comprehension.  All  the 
noblest  criteria  of  moral  and  intellectual  manhood 
ought  to  be  vigorously  and  harmoniously  developed 
in  him.  He  ought  to  have  a  deep  and  lively  moral 
sense,  and  the  moral  perception  of  events  and  of  men 
around  him.  He  ought  to  have  large  brains  and  a 
big  heart,  —  an  almost  all-embracing  comprehension 
of  the  inside  and  outside  of  events,  —  and  when  lie 
has  those  qualities,  then  only  the  genius  of  foresight 
will  dwell  on  his  brow.  He  ought  to  forget  himself 
wholly  and  unconditionally ;  his  reason,  his  heart, 


AUGUST,  1861.  j  DIARY.  85 

his  soul  ought  to  merge  in  the  principles  which 
lifted  him  to  the  elevated  station.  Who  around  me 
approaches  this  ideal  ?  So  far  as  I  know,  perhaps 
Senator  Wade. 

I  wait  and  wait  for  the  eagle  which  may  break 
out  from  the  White  House.  Even  the  burning*  fire 
of  the  national  disaster  at  Bull  Run  left  the  egg 
unhatched.  Utinam  sim  falsus,  but  it  looks  as  if 
the  slowest  brains  were,to  deal  with  the  greatest 
events  of  our  epoch.  Mr.  Lincoln  is  a  pure-souled, 
well-intentioned  patriot,  and  this  nobody  doubts  or 
contests.  But  is  that  all  which  is  needed  in  these 
terrible  emergencies  ? 

Lyon  is  killed,  —  the  only  man  of  initiative  "hith 
erto  generated  by  events.  We  have  bad  luck.  I 
shall  put  on  mourning  for  at  least  six  weeks.  They 
ought  to  weep  all  over  the  land  for  the  loss  of  such 
a  man ;  and  he  would  not  have  been  lost  if  the  ad 
ministration  had  put  him  long  ago  in  command  of 
the  West.  0  General  Scott !  Lyon's  death  can  be 
credited  to  you.  Lyon  was  obnoxious  to  General 
Scott,  but  the  General's  influence  maintains  in  the 
service  all  the  doubtful  capacities  and  characters. 
The  War  Department,  as  says  Potter,  bristles  with 
secessionists,  and  with  them  the  old,  rotten,  respec 
table  relics,  preserved  by  General  Scott,  depress  and 
nip  in  the  bud  all  the  young,  patriotic,  and  genuine 
capacities. 

As  the  sea  corrodes  the  rocks  against  which  it  im 
pinges,  so  egotism,  narrow-mindedness,  and  irnmo- 


86  DIARY.  AUGUST,  1861. 

rality  corrode  the  best  human  institutions.  For  hu 
manity's  sake,  Americans,  beware ! 

Always  the  clouds  of  harpies  around  the  White 
House  and  the  Departments,  —  such  a  generous  fer 
ment  in  the  people,  and  such  impurities  coming  to 
the  surface ! 

Patronage  is  the  stumbling  stone  here  to  true 
political  action.  By  patronage  the  Cabinet  keeps 
in  check  Congressmen,  Senators,  etc. 

I  learn  from  very  good  authority  that  when  Eus- 
sell,  with  his  shadow,  Sam.  Ward,  went  South,  Mr. 
Seward  told  Ward  that  he,  Seward,  intends  not  to 
force^the  Union  on  the  Southern  people,  if  it  should 
be  positively  ascertained  that  that  people  does  not 
wish  to  live  in  the  Union !  I  am  sorry  for  Seward. 
Such  is  not  the  feeling  of  the  Northern  people,  and 
such  notions  must  necessarily  confuse  and  make 
vacillating  Mr.  Se ward's  —  that  is,  Mr.  Lincoln's  — 
policy.  Seward's  patriotism  and  patriotic  wishes 
and  expectations  prevent  him  from  seeing  things 
as  they  are. 

The  money  men  of  Boston  decided  the  conclusion 
of  the  first  national  loan.  Bravo,  my  beloved  Yan 
kees!  In  finances  as  in  war,  as  in  all,  not  the 
financiering  capacity  of  this  or  that  individual,  not 
any  special  masterly  measures,  etc.,  but  the  stern 
will  of  the  people  to  succeed,  provides  funds  and 
means,  prevents  bankruptcy,  etc.  The  men  who 
give  money  send  an  agent  here  to  ascertain  how 
many  traitors  are  still  kept  in  offices,  and  what  are 


AUGUST,  1861.]  DIARY.  87 

the  prospects  of  energetic  action  by  the  administra 
tion. 

McClellan  is  organizing,  working  hard.  It  is  a 
pleasure  to  see  him,  so  devoted  and  so  young.  Af 
ter  all,  youth  is  promise.  But  already  adulation 
begins,  and  may  spoil  him.  It  would  be  very,  very 
saddening. 

Prince  Napoleon's  visit  stirs  up  all  the  stupidity 
of  politicians  in  Europe  and  here.  "What  a  mass  of 
absurdities  are  written  on  it  in  Europe,  and  even  by 
Americans  residing  there.  All  this  is  more  than 
equalled  by  the  solemn  and  wise  speculations  of  the 
Americans  at  home.  Bar-room  and  coffee-house  poli 
ticians  are  the  same  all  over  the  world,  the  same,  I 
am  sure,  in  China  and  Japan.  To  suppose  Prince 
Napoleon  has  any  appetite  whatever  for  any  kind  of 
American  crown  !  Bah !  He  is  brilliant  and  intel 
ligent,  and  to  suppose  him  to  have  such  absurd 
plans  is  to  offend  him.  But  human  and  American 
gullibility  are  bottomless. 

The  Prince  is  a  noble  friend  of  the  American 
cause,  and  freely  speaks  out  his  predilection.  His 
sentiments  are  those  of  a  true  Frenchman,  and  not 
the  sickly  free-trade  pro-slaveryism  of  Baroche  with 
which  he  poisoned  here  the  diplomatic  atmosphere. 
Prince  Napoleon's  example  will  purify  it. 

As  I  was  sure  of  it,  the  great  Manassas  fortifica 
tions  are  a  humbug.  It  is  scarcely  a  half-way  forti 
fied  camp.  So  say  the  companions  of  the  Prince, 
who,  with  him,  visited  Beauregard's  army.  So 


88  DIARY.  [AUGUST,  1861. 

much  for  the  great  Gen.  Scott,  whom  the  companions 
of  the  Prince  call  a  magnificent  ruin. 

The  Prince  spoke  with  Beaurcgard,  and  the 
Prince's  and  his  companions'  opinion  is,  that  Mc 
Dowell  planned  well  his  attack,  but  failed  in  the 
execution ;  and  Beauregard  thought  the  same.  The 
Prince  saw  McClellan,  and  does  not  prize  him  so 
high  as  we  do.  These  foreign  officers  say  that  most 
probably,  on  both  sides,  the  officers  will  make  most 
correct  plans,  as  do  pupils  in  military  schools,  but 
the  execution  will  depend  upon  accident. 

Mr.  Seward  shows  every  day  more  and  more  capa 
city  in  dispatching  the  regular,  current,  diplomatical 
business  affairs.  In  all  such  matters  he  is  now  at 
home,  as  if  he  had  done  it  for  years  and  years.  He 
is  no  more  spread-eagle  in  his  diplomatic  relations ; 
is  easy  and  prompt  in  all  secondary  questions  relat 
ing  to  secondary  interests,  and  daily  emerging  from 
international  complications. 

Hitherto  the  war  policy  of  the  administration,  as 
inspired  and  directed  by  Scott,  was  rather  to  receive 
blows,  and  then  to  try  to  ward  them  off.  I  expect 
young  McClellan  to  deal  blows,  and  thus  to  up 
turn  the  Micawber  policy.  Perhaps  Gen.  Scott  be 
lieved  that  his  name  and  example  would  awe  the 
rebels,  and  that  they  would  come  back  after  having 
made  a  little  fuss  and  done  some  little  mischief. 
But  Scott's  greatness  was  principally  built  up  by  the 
Whigs,  and  his  hold  on  Democrats  was  not  very 
great.  Witness  the  events  of  Polk's  and  Pierce's 
administrations.  His  Mississippi- Atlantic  strategy  is 


AUGUST,  1861.]  DIARY.  89 

a  delirium  of  a  softening  brain.  Reward's  enemies 
say  that  he  puts  up  and  sustains  Scott,  because  in 
the  case  of  success  Scott  will  not  be  in  Seward's 
way  for  the  future  Presidency.  Mr.  Lincoln,  an 
old  Whig,  has  the  Whig-worship  for  Scott ;  and  as 
Mr.  Lincoln,  in  1851,  stumped  for  Scott,  the  candi 
date  for  the  Presidency,  the  many  eulogies  showered 
by  Lincoln  upon  Scott  still  more  strengthened  the 
worship  which,  of  course,  Seward  lively  entertains 
in  Lincoln's  bosom.  Thus  the  relics  of  Whigism 
direct  now  the*destinies  of  the  North.  Mr.  Lincoln, 
Gen.  Scott,  Mr.  Seward,  form  a  triad,  with  satellites 
like  Bates  and  Smith  in  the  Cabinet.  But  the 
Whigs  have  not  the  reputation  of  governmental 
vigor,  decision,  and  promptitude. 

The  vitiated  impulse  and  direction  given  by  Gen. 
Scott  at  the  start,  still  prevails,  and  it  will  be  very 
difficult  to  bring  it  on  the  right  track  —  to  change 
the  general  as  well  as  the  war  policy  from  the 
defensive,  as  it  is  now,  to  the  offensive,  as  it  ought  to 
have  been  from  the  beginning.  The  North  is  five  to 
one  in  men,  and  one  hundred  to  one  in  material 
resources.  Any  one  with  brains  and  energy  could 
suppress  the  rebellion  in  eight  weeks  from  to-day. 

Mr.  Lincoln  in  some  way  has  a  slender  historical 
resemblance  to  Louis  XVI.  —  similar  goodness,  hon 
esty,  good  intentions  ;  but  the  size  of  events  seems  to 
be  too  much  for  him. 

And  so  now  Mr.  Lincoln  is  wholly  overshadowed 
by  Seward.  If  by  miracle  the  revolt  may  end  in  a 
short  time,  Mr.  Seward  will  have  most  of  the  credit 


90  DIARY.  [AUGUST,  1861. 

for  it.     In  the  long  run  the  blame  for  eventual  dis 
asters  will  be  put  at  Mr.  Lincoln's  door. 

Thank  heaven !  the  area  for  action  and  the 
powers  of  McClellan  are  extended  and  increased. 
The  administration  seems  to  understand  the  exigen 
cies  of  the  day. 

I  am  told  that  the  patriotic  and  brave  Senator 
Wade,  disgusted  with  the  slowness  and  inanity  of 
the  administration,  exclaimed,  "  I  do  not  wonder 
that  people  desert  to  Jeff.  Davis,  as  he  shows  brains ; 
I  may  desert  myself."  And  truly,  Jeff.  Davis  and 
his  gang  make  history. 

Young  McClellan  seems  to  falter  before  the  Medu- 
sBrruin  Scott,  who  is  again  at  his  tricks,  and  refuses 
officers  to  volunteers.  To  carry  through  in  Wash 
ington  any  sensible  scheme,  more  boldness  is  needed 
than  on  the  bloodiest  battle-field. 

If  Gen.  Scott  could  have  disappeared  from  the 
stage  of  events  on  the  sixth  of  March,  his  name 
would  have  remained  surrounded  with  that  halo  to 
which  the  people  was  accustomed ;  but  now,  when 
the  smoke  will  blow  over,  it  may  turn  differently. 
I  am  afraid  that  at  some  future  time  will  be  applied 
to  Scott  *  *  *  quia  turpe  ducunt  parere  minoribus, 
et  quce  imberbi  didiccrc,  senes  perdenda  fateri. 

Not  self-government  is  on  trial,  and  not  the  gen 
uine  principle  of  democracy.  It  is  not  the  genuine, 
virtual  democracy  which  conspired  against  the  re 
public,  and  which  rebels,  but  an  unprincipled,  infa 
mous  oligarchy,  risen  in  arms  to  destroy  democracy. 
From  Athens  down  to  to-day,  true  democracies 


AUGUST,  1801.]  DIARY.  91 

never  betrayed  any  country,  never  leagued  them 
selves  with  enemies.  From  the  time  of  Hellas  down 
to  to-day,  all  over  the  world,  and  in  all  epochs,  royal- 
tics,  oligarchies,  aristocracies,  conspired  against, 
betrayed,  and  sold  their  respective  father-lands.  (I 
said  this  years  ago  in  America  and  Europe.) 

Fremont  as  initiator ;  he  emancipates  the  slaves 
of  the  disloyal  Missourians.  Takes  the  advance, 
but  is  justified  in  it  by  the  slowness,  nay,  by  the 
stagnancy  of  the  administration. 

Gen.  Scott  opposed  to  the  expedition  to  Hatte^ 
ras ! 

If  it  be  true  that  Seward  and  Chase  already  lay 
the  tracks  for  the  Presidential  succession,  then  I  can 
only  admire  their  short-sightedness,  nay,  utter  and 
darkest  blindness.  The  terrible  events  will  be  a 
schooling  for  the  people  ;  the  future  President  will 
not  be  a  schemer  already  shuffling  the  cards ;  most 
probably  it  will  be  a  man  who  serves  the  .  country, 
forgetting  himself. 

Only  two  members  in  the  Cabinet  drive  together, 
Blair  and  "Welles,  and  both  on  the  right  side,  both 
true  men,  impatient  for  action,  action.  Every  day 
shows  on  what  false  principle  this  Cabinet  was  con 
structed,  not  for  the  emergency,  not  in  view  to  sup 
press  the  rebellion,  but  to  satisfy  various  party 
wranglings.  Now  the  people's  cause  sticks  in  the 
mud. 


SEPTEMBER,  1861. 

What  will  McClellan  do  ?  — Fremont  disavowed  —  The  Blairs  not  in 
fault  —  Fremont  ignorant  and  a  bungler  —  Conspiracy  to  destroy  him 
—  Se ward  rather  on  his  side—  McClellan's  staff  —  A  Marcy  will  not 
do  !  — McClellan  publishes  a  slave-catching  order  —  The  people  move 
onward — Mr.  Seward  again  —  West  Point  —  The  Washington  de 
fences  —  What  a  Russian  officer  thought  of  them— •  Oh,  for  battles  !  — 
Fremont  wishes  to  attack  Memphis  ;  a  bold  move  !  —  Seward's  influ 
ence  over  Lincoln  — The  people  for  Fremont  —  Col.  Romanoff's  opin 
ion  of  the  generals  —  McClellan  refuses  to  move  —  Manojuvrings — 
The  people  uneasy  — The  staff— The  Orleans  —  Brave  boys!  — The 
Potomac  closed  —  Oh,  poor  nation.!  —  Mexico  —  McClellan  and  Scott. 

WILL  McClellan  display  unity  in  conception,  and 
vigor  in  execution?  That  is  the  question.  He 
seems  very  energetic  and  active  in  organizing  the 
army ;  but  he  ought  to  take  the  field  very  soon. 
He  ought  to  leave  Washington,  and  have  his  head 
quarters  in  the  camp  among  the  soldiers.  The  life 
in  the  tent  will  inspire  him.  It  alone  inspired  Fred 
erick  II.  and  Napoleon.  Too  much  organization 
may  become  as  mischievous  as  the  no  organization 
under  Scott.  Time,  time  is  everything.  The  levies 
will  fight  well ;  may  only  McClellan  not  be  carried 
away  by  the  notion  and  the  attempt  to  create  what 
is  called  a  perfect  army  on  European  pattern.  Such 
an  attempt  would  be  ruinous  to  the  cause.  It  is 
altogether  impossible  to  create  such  an  army  on  the 
European  model,  and  no  necessity  exists  for  it.  The 

92 


SEPTEMBER  1861.  ]  DIARY.  93 

rebel  army  is  no  European  one.  Civil  wars  have 
altogether  different  military  exigencies,  and  the 
great  tactics  for  a  civil  war  are  wholly  different  from 
the  tactics,  etc.,  needed  in  a  regular  war.  Napo 
leon  differently  fought  the  Vendeans,  and  different 
ly  the  Austrians,  and  the  other  coalesced  armies. 
May  only  McClellan  not  become  intoxicated  before 
he  puts  the  cup  to  his  lips. 

Fremont  disavowed  by  Lincoln  and  the  adminis 
tration.  This  looks  bad.  I  have  no  considerable 
confidence  in  Fremont's  high  capacities,  and  believe 
that  his  head  is  turned  a  little  ;  but  in  this  question 
he  was  right  in  principle,  and  right  in  legality.  A 
commander  of  an  army  operating  separately  has  the 
exercise  of  full  powers  of  war. 

The  Blairs  are  not  to  be  accused  ;  I  read  the  let 
ter  from  F.  Blair  to  his  brother.  It  is  the  letter  of 
a  patriot,  but  not  of  an  intriguer.  Fremont  estab 
lishes  an  absurd  rule  concerning  the  breach  of  mili 
tary  discipline,  and  shows  by  it  his  ignorance  and 
narrow-mindedness.  So  Fremont,  and  other  bung 
ling  martinets,  assert  that  nobody  has  the  right  to 
criticise  the  actions  of  his  commander. 

Fremont  is  ignorant  of  history,  and  those  around 
him  who  put  in  his  head  such  absurd  notions  are  a 
pack  of  mean  and  servile  spit-lickers.  An  officer 
ought  to  obey  orders  without  hesitation,  and  if  he 
does  not  he  is  to  be  court-martialed  and  shot.  But 
it  is  perfectly  allowable  to  criticise  them ;  it  is  in 
human  nature  —  it  was,  is,  and  will  be  done  in  all 
armies  ;  see  in  Curtius  and  other  historians  of  Alex- 


94  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1861. 

ander  of  Macedon.  It  was  continually  done  under 
Napoleon.  In  Russia,  in  1812,  the  criticism  made 
by  almost  all  the  officers  forced  Alexander  I.  to 
leave  the  army,  and  to  put  Kutousoff  over  Barclay. 
In  the  last  Italian  campaign  Austrian  officers  criti 
cised  loudly  Giulay,  their  commander,  etc.,  etc. 

Conspiracy  to  destroy  Fremont  on  account  of  his 
slave  proclamation.  The  conspirators  are  the  Mis 
souri  slave-holders :  Senator  Brodhead,  old  Bates, 
Scott,  McClellanj  and  their  staffs.  Some  jealousy 
against  him  in  the  Cabinet,  but  Seward  rather  on 
Fremont's  side. 

McClellan  makes  his  father-in-law,  a  man  of  very 
secondary  capacity,  the  chief  of  the  staff  of  the 
army.  It  seems  that  McClellan  ignores  what  a 
highly  responsible"  position  it  is,  and  what  a  special 
and  transcendent  capacity  must  be  that  of  a  chief 
of  the  staff —  the  more  so  when  of  an  army  of  sev 
eral  hundreds  of  thousands.  I  do  not  look  for  a 
Berthier,  a  Gneisenau,  a  Diebitsch,  or  Gortschakoff, 
but  a  Marcy  will  not  do. 

Colonel  Lebedeef,  from  the  staff  of  the  Emperor 
Alexander  II.,  and  professor  in  the  School  of  the 
Staff  at  St.  Petersburg,  saw  here  everything,  spoke 
with  our  generals,  and  his  conclusion  is  that  in  mil 
itary  capacity  McDowell  is  by  far  superior  to  Mc 
Clellan.  Strange,  if  true,  and  foreboding  no  good. 

Mr.  Lincoln  begins  to  call  a  demagogue  any  one 
who  does  not  admire  all  the  doings  of  his  administra 
tion.  Arc  we  already  so  far  ? 

McClellan  under  fatal  influences  of  the  rampant 


SEPTEMBER,  1361.]  DIARY.  95 

pro-slavery  men,  and  of  partisans  of  the  South,  as 
is  a  Barlow.  All  the  former  associations  of  McClel- 
lan  have  been  of  the  worst  kind  —  Breckinridgians. 
But  perhaps  he  will  throw  them  off.  He  is  young, 
and  the  elevation  of  his  position,  his  standing  before 
the  civilized  world,  will  inspire  and  purify  him,  I 
hope.  Nay,  I  ardently  wish  he  may  go  to  the  camp, 
to  the  camp. 

McClcllan  published  a  slave-catching  order.  Oh 
that  he  may  discard  those  bad  men  around  him  ! 

Struggles  with  evils,  above  all  with  domestic,  in 
ternal  evils,  absorb  a  great  part  of  every  nation's 
life.  Such  struggles  constitute  its  development, 
are  the  landmarks  of  its  progress  and  decline. 

The  like  struggles  deserve  more  the  attention  of 
the  observer,  the  philosopher,  than  all  kinds  of  ex 
ternal  wars.  And,  besides,  most  of  such  external 
wars  result  from  the  internal  condition  of  a  nation. 
At  any  rate,  their  success  or  unsuccess  almost 
wholly  depends  upon  its  capacity  to  overcome  inter 
nal  evils.  A  nation  even  under  a  despotic  rule  may 
overcome  and  repel  an  invasion,  as  long  as  the  strug 
gle  against  the  internal  evils  has  not  broken  the 
harmony  between  the  ruler  and  the  nation.  Here 
the  internal  evil  has  torn  a  part  of  the  constitutional 
structure  ;  may  only  the  necessary  harmony  between 
this  high-minded  people  and  the  representative  of 
the  transient  constitutional  formula  not  be  destroyed. 
The  people  move  onward,  the  formula  vacillates,  and 
seems  to  fear  to  make  any  bold  step. 

If  the  causo  of  the  freemen  of  the  North  sue- 


96  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1861. 

cumbs,  then  humanity  is  humiliated.  This  high- 
spirited  exclamation  belongs  to  Tassara,  the  Minis 
ter  from  Spain.  Not  the  diplomat,  but  the  nobly 
inspired  man  uttered  it. 

But  for  the  authoritative  influence  of  General 
Scott,  and  the  absence  of  any  foresight  and  energy 
on  the  part  of  the  administration,  the  rebels  would 
be  almost  wholly  without  military  leaders,  without 
naval  officers.  The  Johnsons,  Magruders,  Tatnalls, 
Buchanans,  ought  to  have  been  arrested  for  treason 
the  moment  they  announced  their  intention  to 
resign. 

Mr.  Seward  has  many  excellent  personal  quali 
ties,  besides  his  unquestionable  eminent  capacity* for 
business  and  argument ;  but  why  is  he  neutralizing 
so  much  good  in  him  by  the  passion  to  be  all  in  all, 
to  meddle  with  everything,  to  play  the  knowing  one 
in  military  affairs,  he  being  in  all  such  matters  as 
innocent  as  a  lamb  ?  It  is  not  a  field  on  which  Sew- 
ard's  hazarded  generalizations  can  be  of  any  earthly 
use  ;  but  they  must  confuse  all. 

Seward  is  free  from  that  coarse,  semi-barbarous 
know-nothingism  which  rules  paramount,  not  the 
genuine  people,  but*  the  would-be  something,  the 
half-civilized  gentlemen.  Above  all,  know-nothing- 
inm  pervades  all  around  Scott,  who  is  himself  its 
grand  master,  and  it  nestles  there  par  excellence  in 
more  than  one  way.  It  is,  however,  to  be  seen  how 
far  this  pure  American-Scott  military  wisdom  is 
something  real,  transcendent.  Up  to  this  day,  the 
pure  Americanism,  West  Point  schoolboy's  conceit, 


SEPTEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  97 

have  not  produced  much.  The  defences  of  Wash 
ington,  so  much  clarioncd  as  being  the  product  of  a 
high  conception  and  of  engineering  skill,  —  these 
defences  are  very  questionable  when  appreciated  by 
a  genuine  military  eye.  A  Russian  officer  of  the 
military  engineers,  one  who  was  in  the  Crimea 
and  at  Scbastopol,  after  having  surveyed  these  de 
fences  here,  told  me  that  the  Russian  soldiers  who 
defended  Sebastopol,  and  who  learned  what  ought 
to  be  defences,  would  prefer  to  fight  outside  than 
inside  of  the  Washington  forts,  bastions,  defences, 
etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

Doubtless  many  foreigners  coming  to  this  country 
are  not  much,  but  the  greatest  number  are  soldiers 
who  saw  service  and  fire,  and  could  be  of  some  use 
at  the  side  of  Scott's  West  Point  greenness  and  pre 
sumption. 

If  we  arc  worsted,  then  the  fate  of  the  men  of 
faith  in  principles  will  be  that  of  Sisyphus,  and  the 
coming  generation  for  half  a  century  will  have  up 
hill  work. 

If  not  McClellan  himself,  some  intriguers  around 
him  already  dream,  nay,  even  attempt  to  form  a  pure 
military,  that  is,  a  reckless,  unprincipled,  unpatri 
otic  party.  These  men  foment  the  irritation  be 
tween  the  arrogance  of  the  thus-called  regular 
army,  and  the  pure  abnegation  of  the  volunteers. 
Oh,  for  battles  !  Oh,  for  battles  ! 

Fremont  wished  at  once  to  attack  Fort  Pillow  and 
the  city  of  Memphis.  It  was  a  bold  move,  but  the 
concerted  civil  and  military  wisdom  grouped  around 


98  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1861. 

the  President  opposed  this  truly  great  military  con 
ception. 

Mr.  Lincoln  is  pulled  in  all  directions.  His  in 
tentions  are  excellent,  and  he  would  have  made  an 
excellent  President  for  quiet  times.  But  this  civil 
war  imperatively  demands  a  man  of  foresight,  of 
prompt  decision,  of  Jacksonian  will  and  energy. 
.These  qualities  may  be  latent  in  Lin.com,  but  do  not 
yet  come  to  daylight.  Mr.  Lincoln  has  no  experi 
ence  of  men  and  events,  and  no  knowledge  of  the 
past.  Seward's  influence  over  Lincoln  may  be  ex 
plained  by  the  fact  that  Lincoln  considers  Seward 
as  the  alpha  and  omega  of  every  kind  of  knowledge 
and  information. 

I  still  hope,  perhaps  against  hope,  that  if  Lincoln 
is  what  the  masses  believe  him  to  be,  a  strong  mind, 
then  all  may  come  out  well.  Strong  minds,  lifted  by 
events  into  elevated  regions,  expand  more  and  more  ; 
their  "  mind's  eye  "  pierces  through  clouds,  and  even 
through  rocks ;  they  become  inspired,  and  inspira 
tion  compensates  the  deficiency  or  want  of  informa 
tion  acquired  by  studies.  "Weak  minds,  when  trans 
ported  into  higher  regions,  become  confused  and 
dizzy.  Which  of  the  two  will  be  Mr.  Lincoln's 
fate? 

The  administration  hesitates  to  give  to  the  strug 
gle  a  character  of  emancipation ;  but  the  people 
hesitate  not,  and  take  Fremont  to  their  heart. 

As  the  concrete  humanity,  so  single  nations  have 
epochs  of  gestation,  and  epochs  of  normal  activity, 


SEPTEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  99 

of  growth,  of  full  life,  of  manhood.     Americans  are 
now  in  the  stage  of  manhood. 

Col.  Romanoff,  of  the  Russian  military  engineer 
corps,  who  was  in  the  Crimean  war,  saw  here  the 
men  and  the  army,  saw  and  conversed  with  the 
generals.  Col.  R.  is  of  opinion  that  McDowell  is 
by  far  superior  to  McClellan,  and  would  make  a 
better  commander. 

It  is  said  that  McClellan  refuses  to  move  until  he 
has  an  army  of  800,000  men  and  600  guns.  Has 
he  not  studied  Napoleon's  wars  ?  Napoleon  scarcely 
ever  had  half  such  a  number  in  hand  ;  and  when  at 
Wagram,  where  he  had  about  180,000  men,  himself 
in  the  centre,  Davoust  and  Massena  on  the  flanks, 
nevertheless  the  handling  of  such  a  mass  was  too 
heavy  even  for  his,  Napoleon's,  genius. 

The  country  is  —  to  use  an  Americanism  —  in  a 
pretty  fix,  if  this  McClellan  turns  out  to  be  a  mistake. 
I  hope  for  the  best.  GOO  guns  !  But  100  guns  in  a 
line  cover  a  mile.  What  will  he  do  with  GOO  ?  Lose 
them  in  forests,  marshes,  and  bad  roads  ;  whence  it 
is  unhappily  a  fact  that  McClellan  read  only  a  little 
of  military  history,  misunderstood  what  he  read, 
and  now  attempts  to  realize  hallucinations,  as  a  boy 
attempts  to  imitate  the  exploits  of  an  Orlando.  It 
is  dreadful  to  think  of  it.  I  prefer  to  trust  his 
assertion  that,  once  Organized,  he  soon,  very  soon, 
will  deal  heavy  and  quick  blows  to  the  rebels. 

I  saw  some  manoeuvrings,  and  am  astonished  that 
no  artillery  is  distributed  among  the  regiments  of 
infantry.  When  the  rank  and  file  see  the  guns  on 


100  DIARY.  f  SEPTEMBER,  1861. 

their  side,  the  soldiers  consider  them  as  a  part  of 
themselves  and  of  the  regiment ;  they  fight  better 
in  the  company  of  guns ;  they  stand  by  them  and 
defend  them  as  they  defend  their  colors.  Such  a 
distribution  of  guns  would  strengthen  the  body  of 
the  volunteers.  But  it  seems  that  McClellan  has 
no  confidence  in  the  volunteers.  Were  this  true, 
it  would  denote  a  small,  very  small  mind.  Let  us 
hope  it  is  not  so.  One  of  his  generals  —  a  martinet 
of  the  first  class  —  told  me  that  McClellan  waits  for 
the  organization  of  the  regulars,  to  have  them  for 
the  defence  of  the  guns.  If  so,  it  is  sheer  nonsense. 
These  narrow-minded  West  Point  martinets  will 
become  the  ruin  of  McClellan. 

McClellan  could  now  take  the  field.  Oh,  why  has 
he  established  his  headquarters  in  the  city,  among 
flunkeys,  wiseacres,  and  spit-lickers  ?  Were  he 
among  the  troops,  he  would  be  already  in  Manassas. 
The  people  are  uneasy  and  fretting  about  this  inac 
tion,  and  the  people  see  what  is  right  and  necessary. 

Gen.  Banks,  a  true  and  devoted  patriot,  is  sacri 
ficed  by  the  stupidity  of  what  they  call  here  the 
staff  of  the  great  army,  but  which  collectively,  with 
its  chief,  is  only  a  mass  of  conceit  and  ignorance  — 
few,  as  General  Williams,  excepted.  Banks  is  in 
the  face  of  the  enemy,  and  has  no  cavalry  and  no 
artillery ;  and  here  are  immense  reviews  to  amuse 
women  and  fools. 

Mr.  Mercier,  the  French  Minister,  visited  a  consid 
erable  part  of  the  free  States,  and  his  opinions  are 


SEPTEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY'.  l(5i 

now  more  clear   and  firm;  above  all,  he  is  very 
friendly  to  our  side.     He  is  sagacious  and  good. 

Missouri  is  in  great  confusion  —  three  parts  of  it 
lost.  Fremont  is  not  to  be  accused  of  all  the  mis 
chief,  but,  from  effect  to  cause,  the  accusation  as 
cends  to  General  Scott. 

Gen.  Scott  insisted  to  have  Gen.  Harney  appointed 
to  the  command  of  Missouri,  and  hated  Lyon.  If, 
even  after  Harncy's  recall,  Lyon  had  been  appointed, 
Lyon  would  be  alive  and  Missouri  safe.  But  hatred, 
anxiety  of  rank,  and  stupidity,  united  their  efforts, 
and  prevailed.  Oh  American  people !  to  depend 
upon  such  inveterate  blunderers  ! 

Were  McClellan  in  the  camp,  he  would  have  no 
flatterers,  no  antechambers  filled  with  flunkeys ; 
but  the  rebels  would  not  so  easily  get  news  of  his 
plans  as  they  did  in  the  affair  on  Munson's  Hill. 

The  Orleans  are  here.  I  warned  the  government 
against  admitting  the  Count  de  Paris,  saying  that  it 
would  be  a  deliberate  breach  of  good  comity  towards 
Louis  Napoleon,  and  towards  the  Bonapartes,  who 
prove  to  be  our  friends;  I  told  that  no  European 
government  would  commit  itself  in  such  a  manner, 
not  even  if  connected  by  ties  of  blood  with  the  Or 
leans.  At  the  start,  Mr.  Seward  heeded  a  little  my 
advice,  but  finally  he  could  not  resist  the  vanity  to 
display  untimely  spread-eagleism,  and  the  Orleans 
are  in  our  service.  Brave  boys  !  It  is  a  noble, 
generous,  high-minded,  if  not  an  altogether  wise, 
action. 

If  a  mind  is  not  nobly  inspired  and  strong,  then 


1.02  D  I  A  K  Y.  [SEPTEMBER  1861. 

the  exercise  of  power  makes  it  crotchety  and  dissim- 
ulative  in  contact  with  men.  To  my  disgust,  I  wit 
ness  this  all  around  me. 

The  American  people,  its  institutions,  the  Union 
— all  have  lost  their  virginity,  their  political  inno 
cence.  A  revolution  in  the  institutions,  in  the  mode 
of  life,  in  notions  begun  —  it  is  going  on,  will  grow 
and  mature,  either  for  good  or  evil.  Civil  war,  this 
most  terrible  but  most  maturing  passion,  has  put  an 
end  to  the  boyhood  and  to  the  youth  of  the  Ameri 
can  people.  Whatever  may  be  the  end,  one  thing 
is  sure  —  that  the  substance  and  the  form  will  be 
modified;  nay,  perhaps,  both  wholly  changed.  A 
new  generation  of  citizens  will  grow  and  come  out 
from  this  smoke  of  the  civil  war. 

The  Potomac  closed  by  the  rebels  !  Mischief  and 
shame !  Natural  fruits  of  the  dilatory  war  policy 
—  Scott's  fault.  Months  ago  the  navy  wished  to 
prevent  it,  to  shell  out  the  rebels,  to  keep  our  troops 
in  the  principal  positions.  Scott  opposed ;  and  still 
he  has  almost  paramount  influence.  McClellan 
complains  against  Scott,  and  Lincoln  and  Seward 
flatter  McClellan,  but  look  up  to  Scott  as  to  a  super 
natural  military  wisdom.  Oh,  poor  nation  ! 

In  Europe  clouds  gather  over  Mexico.  Whatever 
it  eventually  may  come  to,  I  suggested  to  Mr.  Scw- 
ard  to  lay  aside  the  Monroe  doctrine,  not  to  meddle 
for  or  against  Mexico,  but  to  earnestly  protest 
against  any  eventual  European  interference  in  the 
internal  condition  of  the  political  institutions  of 
Mexico. 


SEPTEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  103 

Continual  secondary,  international  complications, 
naturally  growing  out  from  the  maritime  question  ; 
so  with  the  Dutch  cheesemongers,  with  Spain,  with 
England  —  all  easily  to  be  settled  ;  they  generate 
fuss  and  trouble,  but  will  make  no  fire. 

Gen.  Scott's  partisans  complain  that  McClellan 
is  very  disrespectful  in  his  dealings  with  Gen.  Scott. 
I  wonder  not.  McClellan  is  probably  hampered  by 
the  narrow  routine  notions  of  Scott.  McClellan 
feels  that  Scott  prevents  energetic  and  prompt  ac 
tion  ;  that  he,  McClellan,  in  every  step  is  obliged  to 
fight  Gen.  Scott's  inertia ;  aiid  McClellan  grows  im 
patient,  and  shows  it  to  Scott. 


OCTOBER,  1861. 

Experiments   on  the  people's   life-blood  —  McClellan's   uniform  —  The 
army  fit  to  move  —  The  rebels  treat  us  like  children  —  We  lose  time 

—  Everything  is  defensive  —  The   starvation  theory  —  The  anaconda 

—  First  interview  with  McClellan  — Impressions  of  him  —  His  dis 
trust  of  the  volunteers  —  Not  a  Napoleon  nor  a  Garibaldi  —  Mason 
and  Slidcll  —  Scward  admonishes  Adams  —  Fremont  goes  overboard 

—  The  pro-slavery  party  triumph —  The  collateral  missions  to  Europe 

—  Peace  impossible  — Every  Southern  gentleman  is  a  pirate  — When 
will  we  deal  blows  ?  —  Inertia  !  inertia ! 

As  in  the  mediaeval  epoch,  and  some  time  there 
after,  anatomists  and  physiologists  experimented  on 
the  living  villeins,  that  is,  on  peasantry,  serfs,  and 
called  this  process  experientia  in  anima  vili,  so  this 
naive  administration  experiments  in  civil  and  in 
military  matters  on  the  people's  life-blood. 

McClellan,  stirred  up  by  the  fools  and  peacocks 
around  him,  has  sent  to  the  War  Department  a 
project  of  a  showy  uniform  for  himself  and  his  staff. 
It  would  be  to  laugh  at,  if  it  were*  not  insane.-  Mc 
Clellan  very  likely  read  not  what  he  signed. 

The  army  is  in  sufficient  rig  and  organization  to 
take  the  field ;  but  nevertheless  McClellan  has  not 
yet  made  a  single  movement  imperatively  prescribed 
by  the  simplest  tactics,  and  by  the  simplest  common 
sense,  when  the  enemy  is  in  front.  Not  a  single 
serious  reconnoissance  to  ascertain  the  real  force 

104 


OCTOBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  105 

of  the' enemy,  to  pierce  through  the  curtain  behind 
which  the  rebels  hide  their  real  forces.  It  must  be 
conceded  to  the  rebel  generals  that  they  show  great 
skill  in  humbugging  us.  Whenever  we  try  to  make 
a  step  we  are  met  by  a  seemingly  strong  force  (ten 
fold  increased  by  rumors  spread  by  the  secessionists 
among  us,  and  gulped  by  our  stupidity),  which 
makes  us  suppose  a  deep  front,  and  a  still  deeper 
body  behind.  And  there  is  the  humbug,  I  am  sure. 
If,  on  such  an  extensive  line  as  the  rebels  occupy, 
the  main  body  should  correspond  to  what  they  show 
in  front,  then  the  rebel  force  must  muster  several 
hundreds  of  thousands.  Such  large  numbers  they 
have  not,  and  I  am  sure  that  four-fifths  of  their 
whole  force  constitutes  their  vanguard,  and  behind 
it  the  main  body  is  chaff.  The  rebels  treat  us  as  if 
we  were  children. 

McClellan  fortifies  Washington ;  Fremont,  St. 
Louis ;  Anderson  asks  for  engineers  to  fortify  some 
spots  in  Kentucky.  This  is  all  a  defensive  warfare, 
and  not  so  will  the  rebel  region  be  conquered. 
We  lose  time,  and  time  serves  the  rebels,  as  it  in 
creases  their  moral  force.  Every  day  of  their  exist 
ence  shows  their  intrinsic  vitality. 

The  theory  of  starving  the  rebels  out  is  got  up 
by  imbeciles,  wholly  ignorant  x>f  such  matters; 
wholly  ignorant  of  human  nature  ;  wholly  ignorant 
of  the  degree  of  energy,  and  of  abnegation,  which 
criminals  can  display  when  firmly  decided  upon 
their  purpose.  This  absurdity  comes  from  the 
celebrated  anaconda  Mississippi- Atlantic  strategy. 


106  DIARY.  [OCTO.JER,  1861. 

Oh !  When  in  Poland,  in  1831,  the  military  chiefs 
concentrated  all  the  forces  in  the  fortifications  of 
Warsaw,  all  was  gone.  Oh  for  a  dashing  gene 
ral,  for  a  dashing  purpose,  in  the  councils  of  the 
"White  House  !  The  constitutional  advisers  are  deaf 
to  the  voice  of  the  people,  who  know  more  about  it 
than  do  all  the  departments  and  the  military  wise 
acres.  The  people  look  up  to  find  as  big  brains  and 
hearts  as  are  theirs,  and  hitherto  the  people  have 
looked  up  in  vain.  The  radical  senators,  as  a  King, 
a  Trumbull,  a  Wade,  Wilson,  Chandler,  Hale,  etc., 
the  true  Republicans  in  the  last  session  of  Congress 
—  further,  men  as  Wadsworth  and  the  like,  are  the 
true  exponents  of  the  character,  of  the  clear  insight, 
of  the  soundness  of  the  people. 

McClellan,  and  even  the  administration,  seem  not 
to  realize  that  pure  military  considerations  cannot 
fulfil  the  imperative  demands  of  the  political  situa 
tion. 

October  6th.  —  I  met  McClellan  ;  had  with  him  a 
protracted  conversation,  and  could  look  well  into 
him.  I  do  not  attach  any  value  to  physiognomies, 
and  consider  phrenology,  craniology,  and  their  kin 
dred,  to  be  rather  humbugs  ;  but,  nevertheless,  I 
was  struck  with  the  soft,  insignificant  inexpressive- 
ness  of  his  eyes  and  features.  My  enthusiasm  for 
him,  my  faith,  is  wholly  extinct.  All  that  he  said 
to  me  and  to  others  present  was  altogether  unmili- 
tary  and  inexperienced.  It  made  me  sick  at  heart 
to  hear  him,  and  to  think  that  he  is  to  decide  over 
the  destinies  and  the  blood  of  the  people.  And  he 


OCTOBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  107 

already  an  idol,  incensed,  worshipped,  before  he  did 
anything  whatever.  McClellan  may  have  individual 
courage,  so  has  almost  every  animal ;  but  he  has 
not  the  decision  and  the  courage  of  a  military 
leader  and  captain.  He  has  no  real  confidence  in 
the  troops ;  has  scarcely  any  idea  how  battles  are 
fought ;  has  no  confidence  in  and  no  notion  of  the 
use  of  the  bayonet.  I  told  him  that,  notwithstand 
ing  his  opinion,  I  would  take  his  worst  brigade  of 
infantry,  and  after  a  fortnight's  drill  challenge  and 
whip  any  of  the  best  rebel  brigades. 

Some  time  ago  it  was  reported  that  McClellan  con 
sidered  this  war  had  become  a  duel  of  artillery. 
Fools  wondered  and  applauded.  I  then  protested 
against  putting  such  an  absurdity  in  McClellan's 
mouth  ;  now  I  must  believe  it.  To  be  sure,  every 
battle  is  in  part  a  duel  of  artillery,  but  ends  or  is 
decided  by  charges  of  infantry  or  cavalry.  Can 
nonading  alone  never  constituted  and  decided  a 
battle.  No  position  can  be  taken  by  cannonading 
alone,  and  shells  alone  do  not  always  force  an  ene 
my  to  abandon  a  position.  Napoleon,  an  artillerist 
par  excellence,  considered  campaigns  and  battles  to 
be  something  more  than  duels  of  artillery.  The 
great  battle  of  Borodino,  and  all  others,  were  de 
cided  when  batteries  were  stormed  and  taken.  Ey- 
lau  was  a  battle  of  charges  by  cavalry  and  by  infan 
try,  besides  a  terrible  cannonading,  etc.,  etc.  Mc 
Clellan  spoke  with  pride  of  the  fortifications  of 
Washington,  and  pointed  to  one  of  the  forts  as 
having  a  greater  profile  than  had  the  world-renowned 


108  DIARY.  [OCTOBER  1861. 

Malakoff.  What  a  confusion  of  notions,  what  a 
misappreciation  of  relative  conditions  ! 

I  cannot  express  my  sad,  mournful  feelings,  dur 
ing  this  conversation  with  McClellan.  We  spoke 
about  the  necessity  of  dividing  his  large  army  into 
corps.  McClellan  took  from  the  table  an  Army 
Almanac,  and  pointed  to  the  names  of  generals 
to  whom  he  intended  to  give  the  command  of  corps. 
He  feels  the  urgency  of  the  case,  and  said  that  Gen. 
Scott  prevented  him  from  doing  it ;  but  as  soon  as 
he,  McClellan,  shall  be  free  to  act,  the  division  will 
be  made.  So  General  Scott  is  everywhere  to  defend 
senile  routine  against  progress,  and  the  experience 
of  modern  times. 

The  rebels  deserve,  to  the  end  of  time,  many 
curses  from  outraged  humanity.  By  their  treason 
they  forced  upon  the  free  institutions  of  the  North 
the  necessity  of  curtailing  personal  liberty  and  other 
rights  ;  to  make  use  of  depotism  for  the  sake  of  self- 
defence. 

•  The  enemy  concentrates  and  shortens  his  lines, 
and  McClellan  dares  not  even  tread  on  the  enemy's 
heels.  Instead  of  forcing  the  enemy  to  do  what  we 
want,  and  upturn  his  schemes,  McClellan  seemingly 
does  the  bidding  of  Beaurcgard.  We  advance  as 
much  as  Beauregard  allows  us  to  do.  New  tactics, 
to  be  sure,  but  at  any  rate  not  Napoleonic. 

The  fighting  in  the  West  and  some  small  successes 
here  are  obtained  by  rough  levies ;  and  those  im 
becile,  regular  martinets  surrounding  McClellan 
still  nurse  his  distrust  in  the  volunteers.  All  the 


OCTOBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  109 

wealth,  energy,  intellect  of  the  country,  is  concen 
trated  in  the  hands  of  McClcllan,  and  he  uses  it  to 
throw  up  entrenchments.  The  partisans  of  Mc- 
Clellan  point  to  his  highly  scientific  preparations  — 
his  science.  He  may  have  some  little  of  it,  hut  half- 
science  is  worse  than  thorough  ignorance.  Oh  !  for 
one  dare-devil  in  the  Lyon,  or  in  the  old-fashioned 
Yankee  style.  McClellan  is  neither  a  Napoleon, 
nor  a  Cabrera,  nor  a  Garibaldi. 

Mason  and  Slidcll  escaped  to  Havana  on  their 
way  to  Europe,  as  commissioners  of  the  rebels. 
According  to  all  international  definitions,  we  have 
the  full  right  to  seize  them  in  any  neutral  vessel, 
they  being  political  contrabands  of  war  going  on  a 
publicly  avowed  errand  hostile  to  their  true  gov 
ernment.  Mason  and  Slidcll  are  not  common 
passengers,  nor  are  they  political  refugees  invoking 
the  protection  of  any  neutral  flag.  They  arc  travel 
ling  commissioners  of  war,  of  bloodshed  and  rebel 
lion  ;  and  it  is  all  the  same  in  whatever  seaport  they 
embark.  And  if  the  vessel  conveying  them  goes 
from  America  to  Europe,  or  vice  versa,  Mr.  Seward 
can  let  them  be  seized  when  they  have  left  Havana, 
provided  he  finds  it  expedient. 

We  lose  time,  and  time  is  all  in  favor  of  the 
rebels.  Every  day  consolidates  their  existence  —  so 
to  speak,  crystallizes  them.  Further  —  many  so- 
called  Union  men  in  the  South,  who,  at  the  start, 
opposed  secession,  by  and  by  will  get  accustomed  to 
it.  Secession  daily  takes  deeper  root,  and  will  so  by 
degrees  become  un  fait  accompli. 


110  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1861. 

Mr.  Adams,  in  his  official  relations  with  the  Eng 
lish  government,  speaks  of  the  rebel  pirates  as  of 
lawful  privateers.  Mr.  Seward  admonished  him  for 
it.  Bravo ! 

It  is  so  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  to  meet  an 
American  who  concatenates  a  long  series  of  effects 
and  causes,  or  who  understands  that  to  explain  an 
isolated  fact  or  phenomenon  the  chain  must  be 
ascended  and  a  general  law  invoked.  Could  they 
do  it,  various  bunglings  would  be  avoided,  and 
much  of  the  people's  sacrifices  husbanded,  instead  of 
being  squandered,  as  it  is  done  now. 

Fremont  going  overboard !  His  fall  will  be  the 
triumph  of  the  pro-slavery  party,  headed  by  the  New 
York  Herald,  and  supported  by  military  old  fogies, 
by  martinets,  and  by  double  and  triple  political  and 
intellectual  know-nothings.  Pity  that  Fremont  had 
no  brilliant  military  capacity.  Then  his  fall  could 
not  have  taken  place. 

Mr.  Seward  is  too  much  ruled  by  his  imagination, 
and  too  hastily  discounts  the  future.  But  imagina 
tion  ruins  a  statesman.  Mr.  Seward  must  lose 
credit  at  home  and  abroad  for  having  prophesied, 
and  having  his  prophecies  end  in  smoke.  When  Hat- 
teras  was  taken  (Gen.  Scott  protested  against  the 
expedition),  Mr.  S.  assured  me  that  it  was  the  begin 
ning  of  the  end.  A  diplomat  here  made  the  obser 
vation  that  no  minister  of  a  European  parliamentary 
government  could  remain  in  power  after  having 
been  continually  contradicted  by  facts. 

Now,  Mr.  Seward  devised  these  collateral  mis- 


OCTOBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  Ill 

sions  to  Europe.  He  very  little  knows  the  habii  and 
temper  of  European  cabinets  if  he  believes  that  such 
collateral  confidential  agents  can  do  any  good.  The 
European  cabinets  distrust  such  irresponsible  agents, 
who,  in  their  turn,  weaken  the  influence  and  the 
standing  of  the  genuine  diplomatic  agents.  Mr.  S., 
early  in  the  year,  boasted  to  abolish,  even  in  Europe, 
the  system  of  passports,  and  soon  afterwards  intro 
duced  it  at  home.  So  his  imagination  carries  him 
to  overhaul  the  world.  He  proposes  to  European 
powers  a  united  expedition  to  Japan,  and  we  cannot 
prevent  at  home  the  running  of  the  blockade,  and 
are  ourselves  blockaded  on  the  Potomac.  All  such 
schemes  are  offsprings  of  an  ambitious  imagination. 
But  the. worst  is,  that  every  such  outburst  of  his 
imagination  Mr.  Seward  at  once  transforms  into  a 
dogma,  and  spreads  it  with  all  his  might.  I  pity 
him  when  I  look  towards  the  end  of  his  political 
career.  He  writes  well,  and  has  put  down  the  inso 
lent  English  dispatch  concerning  the  habeas  corpus 
and  the  arrests  of  dubious,  if  not  treacherous,  Eng 
lishmen.  Perhaps  Seward  imagines  himself  to  be 
a  Cardinal  Richelieu,  with  Lincoln  for  Louis  XIII. 
(provided  he  knows  as  much  history),  or  may  be  he 
has  the  ambition  to  be  considered  a  Talleyrand  or 
Mctternich  of  diplomacy.  But  if  any,  he  has  some 
very,  very  faint  similarity  with  Alberoni.  He  easily 
outwits  here  men  around  him ;  most  are  politicians 
as  he ;  but  he  never  can  outwit  the  statesmen  of 
Europe.  Besides,  diplomacy,  above  all  that  of  great 


112  DIARY.  [OCTOBEB,  1881. 

powers,  is  conceived  largely  and  carried  on  a  grand 
scale ;  the  present  diplomacy  has  outgrown  what  is 
commonly  called  (but  fallaciously)  Talleyrandism 
and  Metternichism. 

McClellan  and  the  party  which  fears  to  make  a 
bold  advance  on  the  enemy  make  so  much  fuss 
about  the  country  being  cut  up  and  wooded ;  it 
proves  only  that  they  have  no  brains  and  no  fertility 
of  expedients.  This  country  is  not  more  cut  up 
than  is  the  Caucasus,  and  the  woods  are  no  great, 
endless,  primitive  forests.  They  are  rather  groves. 
In  the  Caucasus  the  Russians  continually  attack 
great  and  dense  forests ;  they  fire  in  them  several 
round  shots,  then  grape,  and  then  storm  them  with 
the  bayonet ;  and  the  Circassians  are  no  worse  sol 
diers  than  are  the  Southrons. 

European  papers  talk  much  of  mediation,  of  a 
peaceful  arrangement,  of  compromise.  By  intuition 
of  the  future  the  Northern  people  know  very  well 
the  utter  impossibility  of  such  an  arrangement.  A 
peace  could  not  stand ;  any  such  peace  will  estab 
lish  the  military  superiority  of  the  arrogant,  reck 
less,  piratical  South.  The  South  would  teem  with 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  ready  for  any  pirat 
ical,  fillibustering  raid,  enterprise,  or  excursion, 
of  which  the  free  States  north  and  west  would 
become  the  principal  theatres.  Such  a  marauding 
community  as  the  South  would  become,  in  case 
of  success,  will  be  unexampled  in  history.  The 
Cylician  pirates,  the  Barbary  robbers,  nay,  the  Tar- 


OCTOBER,  1361.]  DIARY.  113 

tars  of  the  12th,  13th,  and  14th  centuries,  were  vir 
tuous  and  civilized  in  comparison  with  what  would 
be  an  independent,  man-stealing,  and  man-whip 
ping  Southern  agglomeration  of  lawless  men.  The 
free  States  could  have  no  security,  even  if  all  the 
thus  called  gentlemen  and  men  of  honor  were  to 
sign  a  treaty  or  a  compromise.  The  Southern  pesti 
lential  influence  would  poison  not  only  the  North, 
but  this  whole  hemisphere.  The  history  of  the  past 
has  nothing  to  be  compared  with  organized,  legal 
piracy,  as  would  become  the  thus-called  Southern 
chivalry  on  land  and  on  sea ;  and  soon  European 
maritime  powers  would  be  obliged  to  make  costly 
expeditions  for  the  sake  of  extirpating,  crushing, 
uprooting  the  nest  of  pirates,  which  then  will  em 
brace  about  twelve  millions,  —  every  Southern  gen 
tleman  being  a  pirate  at  heart. 

This  is  what  the  Northern  people  know  by  experi 
ence  and  by  intuition,  and  what  makes  the  people 
so  uneasy  about  the  inertia  of  the  administration. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Seward,  Gen.  Scott,  and  other 
great  men,  arc  soured  against  the  people  and  public 
opinion  for  distrusting,  or  rather  for  criticising  their 
little  display  of  statesmanlike  activity.  How  un 
just  !  As  a  general  rule,  of  all  human  sentiments, 
confidence  is  the  most  scrutinizing  one.  If  confi 
dence  is  bestowed,  it  wants  to  perfectly  know  the 
why.  But  from  the  outset  of  this  war  the  Ameri 
can  people  gave  and  give  to  everybody  full,  unsus 
pecting  confidence,  without  asking  the  why,  without 


114  D I A  E  Y.  [OCTOBER,  1861. 

even  scrutinizing  the  actions  which  were  to  justify 
the  claim. 

Up  to  this  day  Secesh  is  the  positive  pole ;  tho 
Union  is  .the  negative,  —  it  is  the  blow  recipient. 
"When,  oh,  when  will  come  the  opposite?  When 
will  we  deal  blows  ?  Not  under  McClcllan,  I  sus 
pect. 


NOVEMBER,    1861. 

Ball's  Bluff—  Whitewashing  —  "  Victoria!  Old  Scott  gone  overboard!  " 

—  His  fatal  influence  —  His  conceit  —  Cameron  —  Intervention  —  More 
reviews  —  Weed,    Everett,     Hughes  —  Gov.    Andrew  —  IJoutwell  — 
Mason  and  Slidcll  caught  —  Lincoln  frightened  by  the  South  Caro 
lina  success— Waits  unnoticed  in  McClellan's  library  — Gen.  Thomas 

—  Traitors  and  pedants  —  The  Virginia  campaign  —  West  Point  — 
McClellan's  speciality—  Whc»will  they  begin  to  see  through  him  ? 

THE  season  is  excellent  for  military  operations, 
such  as  any  Napoleon  could  wish  it.  And  we,. lying 
not  on  our  oars  or  arms,  but  in  our  beds,  as  our 
spes  patriot  is  warmly  and  cosily  established  in  a 
large  house,  receiving  there  the  incense  and  saluta 
tions  of  all  flunkeys.  Even  cabinet  jninisters  crowd 
McClellan's  antechambers ! 

The  massacre  at  Ball's  Bluff  is  the  work  either 
of  treason,  or  of  stupidity,  or  of  cowardice,  or  most 
probably  of  all  three  united. 

No  European  government  and  no  European  na 
tion  would  thus  coolly  bear  it.  Any  commander 
culpable  of  such  stupidity  would  be  forever  dis 
graced,  and  dismissed  from  the  army.  Here  the 
administration,  the  Cabinet,  and  all  the  Scotts,  the 
McClellans,  the  Thomases,  etc.,  strain  their  brains 
and  muscles  to  whitewash  themselves  or  the  cul 
prit  —  to  represent  this  massacre  as  something  very 
innocent. 

Victoria !  Victoria !   Old  Scott,  Old  Mischief,  gone 

115 


116  DIARY.  [NOVEMBER,  1861. 

overboard !  So  vanished  one  of  the  two  evil  genii 
keeping  guard  over  Mr.  Lincoln's  brains.  But  it 
will  not  be  so  easy  to  redress  the  evil  done  by 
Scott.  He  nailed  the  country's  cause  to  such  a 
turnpike  that  any  of  his  successors  will  perhaps  be 
unable  to  undo  what  Old  Mischief  has  done.  Scott 
might  have  had  certain,  even  eminent,  military 
capacity ;  but,  all  things  considered,  he  had  it  only 
on  a  small  scale.  Scott  never  had  in  his  hand 
large  numbers,  and  hundreds  of  European  generals 
of  division's  would  do  the  same  that  Scott  did,  even 
in  Mexico.  Any  one  in  Europe,  who  in  some  way 
or  other  participated  in  the  events  of  the  last  forty 
years,  has  had  occasion  to  see  or  participate  in  one 
single  day  in  more  and  better  fighting,  to  hear  more 
firing,  and  smell  more  powder,  than  has  General 
Scott  in  his  whole  life. 

Scott's  fatal  influence  palsied,  stiffened,  and  poi 
soned  every  noble  or  higher  impulse,  and  every  aspi 
ration  of  the  people.  Scott  diligently  sowed  the 
first  seeds  of  antagonism  between  volunteers  and 
regulars,  and  diligently  nursed  them.  Around  his 
person  in  the  War  Department,  and  in  the  army, 
General  Scott  kept  and  maintained  officers,  who, 
already  before  the  inauguration,  declared,  and  daily 
asserted,  that  if  it  comes  to  a  war,  few  officers  of  the 
army  will  unite  with  the  North  and  remain  loyal  to 
the  Union. 

He  never  forgot  to  be  a  Virginian,  and  was  filled 
with  all  a  Virginian's  conceit.  To  the  last  hour  he 
warded  off  blows  aimed  at  Virginia.  To  this  hour 


NOVEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  117 

he  never  believed  in  a  serious  war,  and  HOT?  re- 
quiescat  in  pace  until  the  curse  of  coming  genera 
tions. 

McClcllan  is  invested  with  all  the  powers  of  Scott. 
McClcllan  has  more  on  his  shoulders  than  any  man 
—  a  Napoleon  not  cxceptcd  —  can  stand  ;  and  with 
his  very  limited  capacity  McClcllan  must  necessarily 
break  under  it.  Now  McClcllan  will  be  still  more 
idolized.  He  is  already  a  kind  of  dictator,  as  Lin 
coln,  Scward,  etc.,  turn  around  him. 

In  a  conversation  with  Cameron,  I  warned  him 
against  bestowing  such  powers  on  McClcllan. 
"  What  shall  we  do  ? "  was  Cameron's  answer ; 
"  neither  the  President  nor  I  know  anything  about 
military  affairs."  Well,  it  is  true  ;  but  McClcllan  is 
scarcely  an  apprentice. 

Again  the  intermittent  fear,  or  fever,  of  foreign 
intervention.  How  absurd !  Americans  belittle 
themselves  talking  and  thinking  about  it.  The 
European  powers  will  not,  and  cannot.  That  is  my 
creed  and  my  answer ;  but  some  of  our  agents,  diplo 
mats,  and  statesmen,  try  to  made  capital  for  them 
selves  from  this  fever  which  they  evoke  to  establish 
before  the  public  that  their  skill  preserves  the  coun 
try  from  foreign  intervention.  Bosh  ! 

All  the  good  and  useful  produced  in  the  life  and 
in  the  economy  of  nations,  all  the  just  and  the  right 
in  their  institutions,  all  the  ups  and  downs,  misfor 
tunes  and  disasters  befalling  them,  all  this  was,  is, 
and  forever  will  be  the  result  of  logical  deductions 


118  DIARY.  [No  TIMBER,  1861 

from  pre-existing  dates  and  facts.  And  here  almost 
everybody  forgets  the  yesterday. 

A  revolution  imposes  obligations.  A  revolution 
makes  imperative  the  development  and  the  practical 
application  of  those  social  principles  which  are  its 
basis. 

The  American  Revolution  of  1776  proclaimed  self- 
government,  equality  before  all,  happiness  of  all, 
etc. ;  it  is  therefore  the  peremptory  duty  of  the  Amer 
ican  people  to  uproot  domestic  oligarchy,  based 
upon  living  on  the  labor  of  an  enslaved  man ;  it  has 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  physical 
servitude  of  both,  of  whites  and  of  colored. 

Eminent  men  in  America  are  taunted  with  the 
ambition  to  reach  the  White  House.  In  itself  it  is 
not  condemnable  ;  it  is  a  noble  or  an  ignoble  ambi 
tion,  according  to  the  ways  and  means  used  to  reach 
that  aim.  It  is  great  and  stirring  to  see  one's  name 
recorded  in  the  list  of  Presidents  of  the  United 
States ;  but  there  is  still  a  record  far  shorter,  but  by 
far  more  to  be  envied  —  a  record  venerated  by  our 
race  —  it  is  the  record  of  truly  great  men.  The  ac 
tually  inscribed  runners  for  the  White  House  do 
not  think  of  this. 

No  one  around  me  here  seems  to  understand  (and 
no  one  is  familiar  enough  with  general  history)  that 
protracted  wars  consolidate  a  nationality.  Every 
day  of  Southern  existence  shapes  it  out  more  and 
more  into  a  nation,  with  all  the  necessary  moral  and 
material  conditions  of  existence. 

Seeing  these  repeated  reviews,  I  cannot  get  rid  of 


NOVEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  119 

the  idea  that  by  such  shows  and  displays  McClellan 
tries  to  frighten  the  rebels  in  the  Chinaman  fashion. 

The  collateral  -missions  to  England,  France,  and 
Spain,  are  to  add  force  to  our  cause  before  the 
public  opinion  as  well  as  before  the  rulers.  But 
what  a  curious  choice  of  men  !  It  would  be  called 
even  an  unhappy  one.  Thurlow  Weed,  with  his  off 
hand,  apparently  sincere,  if  not  polished  ways,  may 
not  be  too  repulsive  to  English  refinement,  provided 
he  docs  not  buttonhole  his  interlocutionists,  or  does 
not  pat  them  on  the  shoulder.  So  Thurlow  Weed 
will  be  dined,  wined,  etc.  But  doubtless  the  Lon 
don  press  will  show  him  up,  or  some  "  Sccesh  "  in 
London  will  do  it.  I  am  sure  that  Lord  Lyons,  as 
it  is  his  paramount  duty,  has  sent  to  Earl  Russell  a 
full  and  detailed  biography  of  this  Se ward's  alter 
ego,  sent  ad  latus  to  Mr.  Adams.  Thurlow  Weed 
will  be  considered  an  agreeable  fellow ;  but  he  never 
can  acquire  much  weight  and  consideration,  neither 
with  the  statesmen,  nor  with  the  members  of  the 
government,  nor  in  saloons,  nor  with  the  public  at 
large. 

Edward  Everett  begged  to  be  excused  from  such  a 
false  position  offered  to  him  in  London.  Not  fish, 
not  flesh.  It  was  rather  an  offence  to  proffer  it  to 
Everett.  The  old  patriot  better  knows  Europe,  its 
cabinets,  and  exigencies,  than  those  who  attempted 
to  intricate  him  in  this  ludicrous  position.  He  is 
right,  and  he  will  do  more  good  here  than  he  could 
do  in  London  —  there  on  a  level  with  Thurlow 
Weed! 


120  DIARY.  [NovEMBEB,  1861. 

Archbishop  Hughes  is  to  influence  Paris  and 
France, — but  whom  ?  The  public  opinion,  which  is 
on  our  side,  is  anti-Roman,  and  Hughes  is  an  Ultra 
Montane  —  an  opinion  not  over  friendly  to  Louis 
Napoleon.  The  French  clergy  in  every  way,  in 
culture,  wisdom,  instruction,  theology,  manners, 
deportment,  etc.,  is  superior  to  Hughes  in  incalcu 
lable  proportions,  and  the  French  clergy  are  already 
generally  anti-slavery.  Hughes  to  act  on  Louis 
Napoleon  !  Why  !  the  French  Emperor  can  outwit 
a  legion  of  Hugheses,  and  do  this  without  the  slight 
est  effort.  Besides,  for  more  than  a  century  European 
sovereigns,  governments,  and  cabinets,  have  gener 
ally  given  up  the  use  of  bishops,  etc.,  for  political, 
public,  or  confidential  missions.  Mr.  Seward  stirs 
up  old  dust.  All  the  liberal  party  in  Europe  or 
France  will  look  astonished,  if  "not  worse,  at  this 
absurdity. 

All  things  considered,  it  looks  like  one  of  Sew- 
ard's  personal  tricks,  and  Seward  outwitted  Chase, 
took  him  in  by  proffering  a  similar  mission  to  Chase's 
friend,  Bishop  Mcllvaine.  But  I  pity  Dayton.  He 
is  a  high-toned  man,  and  the  mission  of  Hughes 
is  a  humiliation  to  Dayton. 

Whatever  may  be  the  objects  of  these  missions, 
they  look  like  petty  expedients,  unworthy  a  minister 
of  a  great  government. 

Mason  and  Slidell  caught.  England  will  roar, 
but  here  the  people  are  satisfied.  Some  of  the  di 
plomats  make  curious  faces.  Lord  Lyons  behaves 


NOVEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  121 

with  dignity.  The  small  Bremen  flatter  right  and 
left,  and  do  it  like  little  lap-dogs. 

Governor  Andrew  of  Massachusetts,  ex-Governor 
Boutwcll,  arc  tip-top  men  —  men  of  the  people.  The 
Blairs  are  too  heinous,  too  violent,  in  their  persecu 
tion  of  Fremont.  Warned  M.  Blair  not  to  protect 
one  whom  Fremont  deservedly  expelled.  But  M. 
Blair,  in  his  spite  against  Fremont,  took  a  mean 
adventurer  by  the  hand,  and  entangled  therein  the 
President. 

The  vessel  and  the  crew  are  excellent,  and  would 
easily  obey  the  hand  of  a  helmsman,  but  there  is  the 
rub,  where  to  find  him  ?  Lincoln  is  a  simple  man 
of  the  prairie,  and  his  eyes  penetrate  not  the  fog, 
the  tempest.  They  do  not  perceive  the  signs  of  the 
times  —  cannot  embrace  the  horizon  of  the  nation. 
And  thus  his  small  intellectual  insight  is  dimmed 
by  those  around  him.  Lincoln  begins  now  already 
to  believe  that  he  is  infallible ;  that  he  is  ahead  of 
the  people,  and  frets  that  the  people  may  remain 
behind.  Oh  simplicity  or  conceit ! 

Again,  Lincoln  is  frightened  with  the  success  in 
South  Carolina,  as  in  his  opinion  this  success  will 
complicate  the  question  of  slavery.  He  is  fright 
ened  as  to  what  he  shall  do  with  Charleston  and 
Augusta,  provided  these  cities  are  taken. 

It  is  disgusting  to  hear  with  what  supercilious 
ness  the  different  members  of  the  Cabinet  speak  of 
the  approaching  Congress  —  and  not  one  of  them  is 
in  any  way  the  superior  of  many  congressmen. 

When  Congress  meets,  the  true  national  balance 


122  DIARY.  [NOVEMBER,  1861. 

account  will  be  struck.  The  commercial  and  pirat 
ical  flag  of  the  secesh  is  virtually  in  all  waters  and 
ports.  (The  little  cheese-eater,  the  Hollander,  was 
the  first  to  raise  a  fuss  against  the  United  States 
concerning  the  piratical  flag.  This  is  not  to  be  for 
gotten.)  2d.  Prestige,  to  a  great  extent,  lost.  3d. 
Millions  upon  millions  wasted.  Washington  besieged 
and  blockaded,  and  more  than  200,000  men  kept  in 
check  by  an  enemy  not  by  half  as  strong.  4th. 
Every  initiative  which  our  diplomacy  tried  abroad 
was  wholly  unsuccessful,  and  we  are  obliged  to  sub 
mit  to  new  international  principles  inaugurated  at 
our  cost ;  and,  summing  up,  instead  of  a  broad, 
decided,  general  policy,  we  have  vacillation,  inaction, 
tricks,  and  expedients.  The  people  fret,  and  so 
will  the  Congress.  Nations  are  as  individuals  ;  any 
partial  disturbance  in  a  part  of  the  body  occasions  a 
general  chill.  Nature  makes  efforts  to  check  the 
beginning  of  disease,  and  so  do  nations.  In  the  hu 
man  organism  nature  does  not  submit  willingly  to 
the  loss  of  health,  or  of  a  limb,  or  of  life.  Nature 
struggles  against  death.  So  the  people  of  the  Union 
will  not  submit  to  an  amputation,  and  is  uneasy  to 
see  how  unskilfully  its  own  family  doctors  treat  the 
national  disease. 

Port  Royal,  South  Carolina,  taken.  Great  and 
general  rejoicing.  It  is  a  brilliant  feat  of  arms,  but 
a  questionable  military  and  war  policy.  Those 
attacks  on  the  circumference,  or  on  extremities, 
never  can  become  a  death-blow  to  secesh.  The  reb 
els  must  be  crushed  in  the  focus ;  they  ought  to 


XOVEMBEU,  1861.]  D  I  A  R  Y. 

receive  a  blow  at  the  heart.  This  new  strategy 
seems  to  indicate  that  McClellan  has  not  heart 
enough  to  attack  the  fastnesses  of  rcbcldom,  but 
expects  that  something  may  turn  up  from  these 
small  expeditions.  He  expects  to  weaken  the  rebels 
iii  their  focus.  I  wish  McClellan  may  be  right  in 
his  expectations,  but  I  doubt  it. 

Officers  of  McClellan's  staff  tell  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
almost  daily  comes  into  McClellan's  library,  and  sits 
there  rather  unnoticed.  On  several  occasions  Mc 
Clellan  let  the  President  wait  in  the  room,  together 
with  other  common  mortals. 

The  English  statesmen  and  the  English  press  have 
the  notion  deeply  rooted  in  their  brains  that  the 
American  people  fight  for'  empire.  The  rebels  do 
it,  but  not  the  free  men. 

Mr.  Seward's  emphatical  prohibition  to  Mr.  Adams 
to  mention  the  question  of  slavery  may  have  con 
tributed  to  strengthen  in  England  the  above-men 
tioned  fallacy.  This  is  a  blunder,  which  before  long 
or  short  Seward  will  repent.  It  looks  like  astute 
ness  —  ruse ;  but  if  so,  it  is  the  resource  of  a  rather 
limited  mind.  In  great  and  minor  affairs,  straight 
forwardness  is  the  best  policy.  Loyalty  always  gets 
the  better  of  astuteness,  and  the  more  so  when  the 
opponent  is  unprepared  to  meet  it.  Tricks  can  bo 
well  met  by  tricks,  but  tricks  are  impotent  against 
truth  and  sincerity.  But  Mr.  Seward,  unhappily, 
has  spent  his  life  in  various  political  tricks,  and  was 
surrounded  by  men  whose  intimacy  must  have  ne 
cessarily  lowered  and  unhealthily  affected  him.  All 


124  DIARY.  [NOVEMBER,  1861. 

his  most  intimates  are  unintellectual  mediocrities  or 
tricksters. 

Seward  is  free  from  that  infamous  know-nothing- 
ism  of  which  this  Gen.  Thomas  is  the  great  master 
(a  man  every  few  weeks  accused  of  treason  by  the 
public  opinion,  and  undoubtedly  vibrating  between 
loyalty  here  and  sympathy  with  rebels). 

All  this  must  have  unavoidably  vitiated  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's  better  nature.  In  such  way  only  can  I  see 
plainly  why  so  many  excellent  qualities  are  marred 
in  him.  He  at  times  can  broadly  comprehend 
things  around  him;  he  is  good-natured  when  not 
stung,  and  he  is  devoted  to  his  men. 

As  a  patriot,  he  is  American  to  the  core  —  were 
only  his  domestic  policy  straight-forward  and  decided, 
and  would  he  only  stop  meddling  with  the  plans  of 
the  campaign,  and  let  the  War  Department  alone. 

Since  every  part  of  his  initiative  with  European 
cabinets  failed,  Seward  very  skilfully  dispatches  all 
the  minor  affairs  with  Europe  —  affairs  generated 
by  various  maritime  and  international  complications. 
Were  his  domestic  policy  as  correct  as  is  now  his 
foreign  policy,  Seward  would  be  the  right  man. 

Statesmanship  emerges  from  the  collision  of  great 
principles  with  important  interests.  In  the  great 
Revolution,  the  thus  called  fathers  of  the  nation 
were  the  offsprings  of  the  exigencies  of  the  time, 
and  they  were  fully  up  to  their  task.  They  were 
vigorous  and  fresh ;  their  intellect  was  not  obstruct 
ed  by  any  political  routine,  or  by  tricky  political 
praxis.  Such  men  are  now  needed  at  the  helm  to 


NOVEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  125 

carry  this  noble  people  throughout  the  most  terrible 
tempest.  So  in  these  days  one  hears  so  much  about 
constitutional  formulas  as  safeguards  of  liberty. 
True  liberty  is  not  to  be  virtually  secured  by  any 
framework  of  rules  and  limitations,  devisable  only 
by  statecraft.  The  perennial  existence  of  liberty 
depends  not  on  the  action  of  any  definite  and  as- 
certainable  machinery,  but  on  continual  accessions 
of  fresh  and  vital  influences.  But  perhaps  such 
influences  are  among  the  noblest,  and  therefore 
among  the  rarest,  attributes  of  man. 

Abroad  and  here,  traitors  and  some  pedants  on 
formulas  make  a  noise  concerning  the  violation  of 
formulas.  Of  course  it  were  better  if  such  viola 
tions  had  been  left  undone.  But  all  this  is  tran 
sient,  and  evoked  by  the  direst  necessity.  The  Con 
stitution  was  made  for  a  healthy,  normal  condition 
of  the  nation ;  the  present  condition  is  abnormal. 
Regular  functions  are  suspended.  When  the  hu 
man  body  is  ruined  or  devoured  by  a  violent  disease, 
often  very  tonic  remedies  are  used  —  remedies  which 
would  destroy  the  organism  if  administered  when 
in  a  healthy,  normal  condition.  A  strong  organism 
recovers  from  disease,  and  from  its  treatment.  Hu 
man  societies  and  institutions  pass  through  a  similar 
ordeal,  and  when  they  are  unhinged,  extraordinary 
and  abnormal  ways  are  required  to  maintain  the 
endangered  society  and  restore  its  equipoise. 

Examining  day  after  day  the  map  of  Virginia,  it 
strikes  one  that  a  movement  with  half  of  the  army 
could  be  made  down  from  Mount  Vernon  by  the 


126  DIARY.  [NOVEMBER,  1861. 

two  turnpike  roads,  and  by  water  to  Occoquan,  and 
from  there  to  Brentsville.  The  country  there  seems 
to  be  flat,  and  not  much  wooded.  Manassas  would 
be  taken  in  the  rear,  and  surrounded,  provided  the 
other  half  of  the  army  would  push  on  by  the  direct 
way  from  here  to  Manassas,  and  seriously  attack  the 
enemy,  who  thus  would  be  broken,  could  not  escape. 
This,  or  any  plan,  the  map  of  Virginia  ought  to  sug 
gest  to  the  staif  of  McClellan,  were  it  a  staff  in  the 
true  meaning.  Dybitsch  and  Toll,  young  colonels  in 
the  staff  of  Alexander  L,  1813-14,  originated  the 
march  on  Paris,  so  destructive  to  Napoleon.  His 
tory  bristles  with  evidences  how  with  staffs  originated 
many  plans  of  battles  and  of  campaigns  ;  history  ex 
plains  the  paramount  influence  of  staffs  on  the  con 
duct  of  a  war.  Of  course  Napoleon  wanted  not  a 
suggestive,  but  only  an  executive  staff;  but  McClel 
lan  is  not  a  Napoleon,  and  has  neither  a  suggestive 
nor  an  executive  staff  around  him.  A  Marcy  to 
suggest  a  plan  of  a  campaign  or  of  a  battle,  to  watch 
over  its  execution  ! 

I  spoke  to  McDowell  about  the  positions  of  Occo- 
quau  and  Brentsville.  He  answered  that  perhaps 
something  similar  will  be  under  consideration,  and 
that  McClellan  must  show  his  mettle  and  capacity. 
I  pity  McDowell's  confidence. 

Besides,  the  American  army  as  it  was  and  is  edu 
cated,  nursed,  brought  up  by  Gen.  Scott, —  the  army 
has  no  idea  what  are  the  various  and  complicated 
duties  of  a  staff.  No  school  of  staff  at  West  Point ; 
therefore  the  difficulty  to  find  now  genuine  officers 


NOVEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  127 

of  the  staff.  If  McClcllan  ever  moves  this  army, 
then  the  effectiveness  of  his  staff  may  occasion  losses 
and  even  disasters.  It  will  be  worse  with  his  staff 
than  it  was  at  Jena  with  the  Prussian  staff,  who 
were  as  conceited  as  the  small  West  Point  clique 
here  in  Washington. 

West  Point  instructs  well  in  special  branches,  but 
does  not  necessarily  form  generals  and  captains. 
The  great  American  Revolution  was  fought  and 
made  victorious  by  men  not  from  any  military 
schools,  and  to  whom  w^erc  opposed  commanders 
with  as  much  military  science  as  there  was  pos 
sessed  and  current  in  Europe.  '  Jackson,  Taylor, 
and  even  Scott,  are  not  from  the  school. 

I  do  not  wish  to  judge  or  disparage  the  pupils 
from  West  Point,  but  I  am  disgusted  with  the  super 
cilious  and  ridiculous  behavior  of  the  clique  here, 
ready  to  form  praetorians  or  anything  else,  and  poi 
soning  around  them  the  public  opinion.  Western 
generals  are  West  Point  pupils,  but  I  do  not  hear 
them  make  so  much  fuss,  and  so  contemptuously 
look  down  on  the  volunteers.  These  Western  gen 
erals  pine  not  after  regulars,  but  make  use  of 
such  elements  as  they  have  under  hand.  The  best 
and  most  patriotic  generals  and  officers  here,  edu 
cated  at  West  Point,  are  numerous.  Unhappily 
a  clique,  composed  of  a  few  fools  and  fops,  over 
shadows  the  others. 

McClellan's  speciality  is  engineering.  It  is  a  spe 
ciality  which  does  not  form  captains  and  generals 
for  the  field,  —  at  least  such  instances  are  very  rare. 


128  DIARY.  [NOVEMBER,  1861. 

Of  all  Napoleon's  marshals  and  eminent  command 
ers,  Berthier  alone  was  educated  as  engineer,  and  his 
speciality  and  high  capacity  was  that  of  a  chief  of 
the  staff.  Marescott  or  Todleben  would  never  claim 
to  be  captains.  The  intellectual  powers  of  an  en 
gineer  are  modeled,  drilled,  turned  towards  the 
defensive,  —  the  engineer's  brains  concentrate  upon 
selecting  defensive  positions,  and  combine  how  to 
strengthen  them  by  art.  So  an  engineer  is  rather 
disabled  from  embracing  a  whole  battle-field,  with 
its  endless  casualties  and  space.  Engineers  are  the 
incarnation  of  a  defensive  warfare.;  all  others,  as 
artillerists,  infantry,  and  cavalry,  are  for  dashing 
into  the  unknown  —  into  the  space  ;  and  thus  these 
specialities  virtually  represent  the  offensive  warfare. 

When  will  they  begin  to  see  through  McClellan, 
and  find  out  that  he  is  not  the  man  ?  Perhaps  too 
late,  and  then  the  nation  will  sorely  feel  it. 

Mr.  Seward  almost  idolizes  McClellan.  Poor 
homage  that ;  but  it  does  mischief  by  reason  of  its 
.influence  on  the  public  opinion. 


DECEMBER,    1861. 

The  message  —  Emancipation  —  State  papers  published  —  Curtis  Noyes  — 
Greeley  not  fit  for  Sector  —  Generalship  all  on  the  rebel  side  —  Tho 
South  and  the  North  —  The  sensationists  —  The  new  idol  will  cost  the 
people  their  life-blood !  — The  Blairs  — Poor  Lincoln!  — The  Trent 
affair  —  Scott  home  again  —  The  war  investigation  committee  —  Mr. 
Mercier. 

McCLELLAN  is  now  all-powerful,  and  refuses  to 
divide  the  army  into  corps.  Thus  much  for  his 
brains  and  for  his  consistency. 

The  message  —  a  disquisition  upon  labor  and 
capital ;  hesitancy  about  slavery.  The  President 
wishes  to  be  pushed  on  by  public  opinion.  But 
public  opinion  is  safe,  and  expects  from  the  official 
leader  a  decided  step  onwards.  The  message  gives 
no  solution,  suggests  none,  accounts  not  for  the  lost 
time  —  foreshadows  not  a  vigorous,  energetic  effort 
to  crush  the  rebellion ;  foreshadows  not  a  vigorous, 
offensive  war.  The  message  is  an  honest  paper,  but 
says  not  much. 

The  question  of  emancipation  is  not  clear  even  in 
the  heads  o^  the  leading  emancipationists ;  not  one 
thinks  to  give  freeholds  to  the  emancipated.  It  is 
the  only  way  to  make  them  useful  to  themselves 
and  to  the  community.  Freedom  without  land  is 
humbug,  and  the  fools  speak  of  exportation  of  the 

9  129 


130  DIARY.  [DECEMBER,  1861. 

four  millions  of  slaves,  depriving  thus  the  country 
of  laborers,  which  a  century  of  emigration  cannot 
fill  again.  All  these  fools  ought  to  be  sent  to  a 
lunatic  asylum. 

To  export  the  emancipated  would  be  equivalent 
to  devastation  of  the  South,  to  its  transformation 
into  a  wilderness.  Small  freeholds  for  the  emanci 
pated  can  be  cut  out  of  the  plantations  of  rebels, 
or  out  of  the  public  lands  of  each  State  —  lands  for 
feited  by  the  rebellion. 

State  papers  published.  The  instructions  to  the 
various  diplomatic  agents  betray  a  beginner  in  the 
diplomatic  career.  By  writing  special  instructions 
for  each  minister,  Mr.  Seward  unnecessarily  in 
creased  his  task.  The  cause,  reasons,  etc.,  of  the 
rebellion  are  one  and  the  same  for  France  or  Rus 
sia,  and  a  single  explanatory  circular  for  all  the 
ministers  would  have  done  as  well  and  spared  a 
great  deal  of  labor.  Cavour  wrote  one  circular  to 
all  cabinets,  and  so  do  all  European  statesmen.  So, 
as  they  are,  the  State  papers  are  a  curious  agglom 
eration  of  good  patriotism  and  confusion.  So  the 
Minister  to  England  is  to  avoid  slavery ;  the  Minister 
to  France  has  the  contrary.  All  this  is  not  smart 
ness  or  diplomacy,  but  rather  confusion,  insincerity, 
and  double-dealing.  One  must  conclude  that  Lin 
coln  and  Seward  have  themselves  no  firm  opinion. 
The  instructions  to  Mexico  would  sound  nobly- 
worded  but  for  the  confusion  and  the  veil  ordered 
to  be  thrown  upon  the  cause  of  secession.  That  to 
Italy,  above  all  to  Austria,  has  a  smack  of  a  school- 


DECEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  131 

jt 

master  displaying  his  information  before  a  gaping 
boy.  It  is  offensive  to  the  Minister  going  to  Vienna. 
It  may  bo  suspected  that  some  of  these  instructions 
were  written  to  make  capital  at  home,  to  astonish 
Mr.  Lincoln  with  the  knowledge  of  Europe  and  the 
familiarity  with  European  affairs.  All  this  display 
will  prove  to  Europeans  rather  an  ignorance  of 
Europe.  The  correspondence  on  the  Paris  conven 
tion  is  splendid,  although  the  initiative  taken  by 
Seward  on  this  question  was  a  mistake.  But  he 
argued  well  the  case  against  the  English  and  French 
reservations. 

Never  any  government  whatever  treated  so  ten 
derly  its  worst  and  most  dangerous  enemies  as  docs 
this  government  the  Washington  secessionists,  spies 
for  the  enemy,  and  spreading  false  news  here  to 
frighten  McClellan. 

The  old  regular,  but  partly  worn-out  Republican 
leaders  throttle  and  neutralize  the  new,  fresh,  vigor 
ous  accessions.  So  Curtis  Noyes,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  and  devoted  men,  could  not  come  into  the 
Senate  because  Greeley  wished  to  be  elected. 

No  living  man  has  rendered  greater  services  to  the 
people  during  the  last  twenty  years  than  Greeley ; 
but  he  ought  to  remain  in  his  speciality.  Greeley 
is  no  more  fit  for  a  Senator  than  to  take  the  com 
mand  of  a  regiment.  Besides,  the  events  already 
run  over  his  head  ;  Greeley  is  slowly  breaking  down. 

McClellan  is  beset  with  all  kinds  of  inventors, 
contractors,  etc.  He  mostly  endorses  their  sugges 
tions,  and  on  this  authority  the  most  extravagant 


132  DIARY.  [DECEMBER,  1861. 

sr 
orders  are  given  by  the  War  Department.      All  this 

ought  to  be  investigated.  Somebody  back  of  Mc- 
Clellan  may  be  found  as  being  the  real  patron  of 
these  leeches. 

If  the  genius  or  capacity  of  a  commander  consists 
not  only  in  closely  observing  the  movements  of  the 
enemy,  but  likewise  in  penetrating  the  enemy's 
plans  and  in  modifying  his  own  in  proportion  as 
they  are  deranged  by  an  unexpected  movement  or 
a  rapid  march,  then  the  generalship  is  altogether  on 
the  other  side,  and  on  ours  not  a  sign,  not  a  breath 
of  it. 

A  civil  war  is  mostly  the  purifying  fire  in  a 
nation's  existence.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  great 
convulsion  will  purify  the  free  States  by  sounding 
the  death-knell  of  these  small  intriguing  politicians. 
The  American  people  at  large  will  acquire  earnest 
ness,  knowledge  of  men,  and  clear  insight  into  its 
own  affairs.  Tricky  politicians  will  be  discarded, 
and  true  men  backed  by  majorities. 

The  South  has  for  its  leaders  the  chiefs  who  for 
years  organized  the  secession,  who  waged  everything 
on  its  success,  as  life,  honor,  fortune,  and  who  in 
cite  and  carry  with  them  the  ignorant  masses. 

The  reverse  is  in  the  North.  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
not  elected  for  suppressing  the  rebellion,  nor  did  he 
make  his  Cabinet  in  view  of  a  terrible  national  strug 
gle  for  death  or  life.  Neither  Lincoln  nor  his  Cabi 
net  are  the  inciters  or  the  inspiring  leaders  of  the 
people,  but  only  expressions  —  not  ad  hoc  —  of  the 
national  will.  This  is  one  reason  why  the  adminis- 


DECEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  183 

tration  is  slower  than  the  people,  and  why  the  rebel 
administration  is  quicker  than  ours. 

The  second  reason,  and  generated  by  the  first,  is, 
that  every  rebel  devotes  his  whole  soul  and  energy 
to  the  success  of  the  rebellion,  forcibly  forgetting 
his  individuality.  Our  thus  called  leaders  think 
.first  of  their  little  selves,  whose  aggrandizement  the 
public  events  are  to  secure,  and  the  public  cause  is 
to  square  itself  with  their  individual  schemes. 

Such  is  the  policy  of  almost  all  those  at  the  helm 
here.  Not  one  among  them  is  to 'be  found  deserv 
ing  the  name  of  a  statesman,  endowed  with  a  great 
devotion,  and  with  a  great  power,  for  the  service  of 
a  great  and  noble  aim.  From  the  solemn  hour  that 
the  fatherland  honorably  chains  him  to  its  service, 
the  genuine  statesman  exists  no  more  for  himself, 
but  for  his  country  alone.  If  necessary,  he  ought 
to  consider  himself  a  victim  to  the  public  good, 
even  were  the  public  unjust  towards  him.  He  is  to 
treat  as  enemies  all  the  dirty,  tricky,  and  mean  pas 
sions  and  men.  His  enemies  will  hate,  but  the 
country,  his  enemies  included,  will  esteem  him. 
Such  a  man  will  be  the  genuine  man  of  the  Ameri 
can  people,  but  he  exists  not  in  the  official  spheres. 

It  is  for  the  first  time  in  history  that  a  young,  in 
significant  man,  without  a  past,  without  any  reason, 
is  put  in  such  a  lofty  position  as  has  been  McClellan  ; 
he  is  to  be  literally  kicked  into  greatness,  and  into 
showing  eventually  courage.  All  this  is  a  psycholo 
gical  problem  ! 


134  DIARY.  [DECEMBER,  1861. 

Kent's  Commentary  upon  the  qualifications  of  a 
President  is  the  best  criticism  upon  Lincoln. 

These  mosquitoes  of  public  opinion,  the  sensa 
tion-seekers,  the  sentimental  preachers,  the  lectur 
ers,  the  amateurs  of  the  thus  called  representative 
men,  these  oratorical  falsifiers  of  history,  but  con 
sidered  here  as  luminaries,  are  already  at  their  per 
nicious,  nay,  accursed  work. 

They  poison  the  judgment  of  the  people.  These 
hero-seekers  for  their  sermons,  lectures,  and  sensa 
tion  productions,  have  already  found  all  the  criteria 
of  a  hero  in  McClellan,  even  in  his  chin,  in  the 
back  of  his  horse,  etc.,  etc.,  and  now  herald  it  all 
over  the  country.  Curses  be  upon  them. 

No  nation  has  ever  raised  idols  with  such  facility 
as  do  the  Americans.  Nay,  I  do  not  suppose  that 
there  ever  existed  in  history  a  nation  with  such  a 
thirst  for  idols  as  this  people.  I  may  be  a  false 
prophet ;  but  this  new  idol,  McClellan,  will  cost  them 
their  life-blood. 

The  Blairs  are  now  staunch  supporters  of  Mc 
Clellan.  It  is  unpardonable.  They  ought  to  know, 
and  they  do  know  better.  But  Mr.  Blair  wishes  to 
be  Secretary  of  War  in  Cameron's  place,  and  wishes 
to  get  it  through  McClellan. 

And  poor  Lincoln !  I  pity  him ;  but  his  advisers 
may  make  out  of  him  something  worse  even  than 
was  Judas,  in  the  curses  of  ages. 

Polybius  asserts  that  when  the  Greeks  wrote  about 
Rome  they  erred  and  lied,  and  when  the  Romans 
wrote  of  themselves  they  lied  or  boasted.  The  same 


DECEMBER,  1861.]  DIARY.  135 

the  English  do  in  relation  to  themselves,  and  to 
Americans.  Above  all,  in  this  Trent  affair,  or  ex 
citement,  all  European  writers  for  the  press,  profess 
ors,  doctors,  etc.,  pervert  facts,  reason,  and  inter 
national  laws,  forget  the  past,  and  lie  or  natter,  with 
a  slight  exception,  as  is  Gasparin. 

The  Trent  affair  finished.  We  are  a  little  hum 
bled,  but  it  was  expedient  to  terminate  it  so.  "With 
another  military  leader  than  McClellan,  we  could 
march  .at  the  same  time  to  Richmond,  and  invest 
Canada  before  any  considerable  English  force  could 
arrive  there.  But  with  such  a  hero  at  our  head, 
better  that  it  ends  so.  Europe  will  applaud  us,  and 
the  relation  with  England  will  become  clarified. 
Perhaps  England  would  not  have  been  so  stiff  in 
this  Trent  affair  but  for  the  fixed  idea  in  Russell's, 
Newcastle's,  Palmerston's,  etc.,  heads  that  Seward 
wishes  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  England. 

The  first  weeks  of  Seward's  premiership  pointed 
that  way.  Mr.  Seward  has  the  honors  of  the  Trent 
affair.  It  is  well  as  it  is ;  the  argument  is  smart, 
but  a  little  too  long,  and  not  in  a  genuine  diplo 
matic  style.  But  Lincoln  ought  to  have  a  little 
credit  for  it,  as  from  the  start  he  was  for  giving  the 
traitors  up. 

The  worst  feature  of  the  whole  Trent  affair  is, 
that  it  brought  back  home  from  France  this  old 
mischief,  General  Scott.  He  will  again  resume  his 
position  as  the  first  military  authority  in  the  coun 
try,  confuse  the  judgment  of  Lincoln,  of  the  press, 


136  DIARY.  [DECEMBER,  1861. 

and  of  the  people,  and  again,  push  the  country  into 
mire. 

The  Congress  appointed  a  War  Investigating 
Committee,  Senator  Wade  at  the  head.  There  is 
hope  that  the  committee  will  quickly  find  out  what 
a  terrible  mistake  this  McClellan  is,  and  warn  the 
nation  of  him.  But  Lincoln,  Seward,  and  the 
Blairs,  will  not  give  up  their  idol. 

Louis  Napoleon  said  his  word  about  the  Trent 
affair.  All  things  considered,  the  conduct  of  the 
Emperor  cannot  be  complained  of.  The  Thouvenel 
paper  is  serious,  severe,  but  intrinsically  not  un 
friendly.  Quite  the  contrary.  Up  to  this  time  I 
am  right  in  my  reliance  on  Louis  Napoleon,  on  his 
sound,  cool,  but  broad  comprehension. 

Mr.  Mercier  behaves  well,  and  he  is  to  be  relied 
on,  provided  we  show  mettle  and  fight  the  traitors. 
Now,  as  the  Buropean  imbroglio  is  clarified,  at  them, 
at  them  !  But  nothing  to  hope  or  expect  from  Mc 
Clellan.  I  daily  preach,  but  in  the  wilderness. 
Prince  de  Joinville  made  a  very  ridiculous  fuss 
about  the  Trent  affair. 

Americans  believe  that  a  statesman  must  be  an 
orator.  Schoolboy-like,  they  judge  on  English  prece 
dents.  In  England,  the  Parliament  is  omnipotent ; 
it  makes  and  unmakes  administrations,  therefore 
oratory  is  a  necessary  corollary  in  a  statesman ;  but 
here  the  Cabinet  acts  without  parliamentary  wran- 
glings,  and  a  Jackson  is  the  true  type  of  an  Ameri 
can  statesman.  Washington  was  not  an  orator,  nor 
was  Alexander  Hamilton. 


JANUARY,    1862. 

The  year  1861  ends  badly— European  defenders  of  slavery  — Secession 
lies  —  Jeremy    Diddlers  —  Sensation-seekers  —  Despotic    tendencies 

—  Atomistic  Torquemadas  —  Congress  chained  by  formulas  —  Burn- 
side's  expedition  a  sign  of  life  —  Will  this  McClellan  ever  advance  ?  — 
Mr.  Adams  unhorsed  — He  packs  his  trunks  — Bad  blankets  — Aus 
tria,  Prussia,  and  Ilussia  — The  West  Point  nursery  — McClellan  a 
greater  mistake  than  Scott  —  Tracks  to  the  White  House  —  European 
stories  about  Mr.  Lincoln —  The  English  ignorami —  The  slaveholder 
a  scarcely  varnished  savage  — Jeff.  Davis  —  "  Beauregard  frightens 
us  — McClellan  rocks  his  baby  "  —  Fancy  army  equipment  — McClel 
lan  and  his  chief  of  staff  sick  in  bed  —  "  No  satirist  could  invent  such 
things  "  — Stanton  in  the  Cabinet—  "  This  Stanton  is  the  people"  — 
Fremont  —  Weed  —  The  English  will  not  be  humbugged  —  Dayton  in 
a  fret  —  Beaufort  —  The  investigating  committee  condemn  McClellan 

—  Lincoln  in  the  clutches  of  Scward  and  Blair —  Banks  begs  for  guns 
and  cavalry  in  vain  —  The  people  will  awake !  —  The  question  of  race 

—  Agassiz. 

AN  ugly  year  ended  in  backing  before  England, 
having,  at  least,  relative  right  on  our  side.  Further, 
the  ending  year  has  revealed  a  certain  incapacity  in 
the  Republican  party's  leaders,  at  least  its  official 
leaders,  to  administer  the  country  and  to  grasp  the 
events.  If  the  new  year  shall  be  only  the  continu 
ation  of  the  faults,  the  mistakes,  and  the  incapaci 
ties  prevailing  during  1861,  then  the  worst  is  to 
be  expected. 

The  lowest  in  moral  degradation  is  an  European 
defending  slavery  here  or  in  Europe.  Such  Euro- 
is? 


138  DIARY.  [JANUABY,  1862. 

peans  are  far  below  the  condemned  criminals.  Still 
lower  are  such  Europeans  who  become  defenders  of 
slavery  after  having  visited  plantations,  where,  in 
the  shape  of  wines  and  delicacies,  they  tasted  human 
blood,  and  then,  hyenas-like,  smacked  their  lips  And 
thirsted  for  more. 

Always  the  same  stories,  lies,  and  humbugs  con 
cerning  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  rebels  in 
Manassas.  These  lies  are  spread  here  in  Washing 
ton  by  the  numerous  secessionists  —  at  large,  by 
such  ignoble  sheets  as  the  New  York  Herald  and 
Times ;  and  McClellan  seems  to  willingly  swallow 
these  lies,  as  they  justify  his  inaction  and  c . 

The  city  is  more  and  more  crowded  with  Jeremy 
Diddlers,  with  lecturers,  with  sensation-seekers,  all 
of  them  in  advance  discounting  their  hero,  and 
showing  in  broad  light  their  gigantic  stupidity.  One 
of  this  motley  finds  in  McClellan  a  Norman  chin, 
the  other  muscle,  the  third  a  brow  for  laurels  (of 
thistle  I  hope),  another  a  square,  military,  heroic 
frame,  another  firmness  in  lips,  another  an  unfath- 
omed  depth  in  the  eye,  etc.,  etc.  Never  I  heard  in 
Europe  such  balderdash.  And  the  ladies  —  not  the 
women  and  gentlewomen  —  are  worse  than  the  men 
in  thus  stupefying  themselves  and  those  around  them. 

The  thus  called  arbitrary  acts  of  the  government 
prove  how  easily,  on  the  plea  of  patriotic  necessity, 
a  people,  nay,  the  public  opinion,  submits  to  arbi 
trary  rule.  All  this,  servility  included,  explains  the 
facility  with  which,  in  former  times,  concentrated  and 
concrete  despotisms  have  been  established.  Here 


JANUARY,  1862.  j  DIARY.  139 

every  such  arbitrary  action  is  submitted  to,  because 
it  is  so  new,  and  because  the  people  has  the  childish, 
naive,  but,  to  it,  honorable  confidence,  that  the  power 
entrusted  by  the  people  is  used  in  the  interest  and 
for  the  welfare  of  the  people.  But  all  the  despots 
of  all  times  and  of  all  nations  said  the  same.  How 
ever,  in  justice  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  he  is  pure,  and  has 
no  dcspotical  longings,  but  he  has  around  him  some 
atomistic  Torquemadas. 

It  will  be  very  difficult  to  the  coming  generations 
to  believe  that  a  people,  a  generation,  who  for  half 
a  century  was  outrunning  the  time,  who  applied  the 
steam  and  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph,  that  the 
same  people,  when  overrun  by  a  terrible  crisis,  moved 
slowly,  waited  patiently,  and  suffered  from  the  mis 
management  of  its  leaders.  This  is  to  be  exclu 
sively  explained  by  the  youthful  self-consciousness 
of  an  internal,  inexhaustible  vital  force,  and  by  the 
child-like  inexperience. 

The  Congress,  that  is,  the  majority,  shows  that  it 
is  aware  of  the  urgency  of  the  case,  and  of  the  dan 
gerous  position  of  the  country.  But  still  the  best 
in  Congress  are  chained,  hampered  by  the  formulas. 

The  good  men  in  both  the  houses  seem  to  be 
firmly  decided  not  to  quietly  stand  by  and  assist  in 
the  murder  of  the  nation  by  the  administrative 
and  military  incapacity.  This  was  to  be  expected 
from  such  men  as  Wade,  Grimes,  Chandler,  Hale, 
Wilson,  Sunnier  (too  classical),  and  other  Republi 
cans  in  the  Senate,  and  from  the  numerous  pure, 
radical  Republicans  in  the  House. 


140  DIARY.  [JANUARY,  1862. 

Burnside's  expedition  is  a  sign  of  life.  But  all 
these  expeditions  on  the  circumference,  even  if  suc 
cessful,  will  be  fruitless  if  no  bold,  decided  move 
ment  is  at  once  made  at  the  centre,  at  the  heart  of 
the  rebellion.  But  McClellan,  as  his  supporters 
say,  matures  his  strategical  plans.  O  God  !  Gen 
eral  Scott  lost  by  strategy  three-fourths  of  the  coun 
try's  cause,  and  very  probably  by  strategy  McClel 
lan  will  jeopardize  what  remains  of  it. 

Will  this  McClellan  ever  advance  ?  If  he  lingers, 
he  may  find  only  rats  in  Manassas.  McClellan  is 
ignorant  of  the  great,  unique  rule  for  all  affairs  and 
undertakings,  —  it  is  to  throw  the  whole  man  in  one 
thing  at  one  time.  It  is  the  same  in  the  camp  as  in 
the  study,  for  a  captain  as  for  a  lawyer,  the  savant, 
and  the  scholar. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  some  of  the  men  truly 
and  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  cause  of  freedom 
and  of  humanity,  mix  with  it  such  an  enormous 
quantity  of  personal,  almost  childish  vanity,  as  to 
puzzle  many  minds  concerning  the  genuine  noble 
ness  of  their  devotion.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
those  otherwise  so  self-sacrificing  patriots  discount 
even  their  martyrdom  and  persecutions,  and  credit 
them  to  their  frivolous  self-satisfaction. 

Most  of  the  thus-called  well-informed  Americans 
rather  skim  over  than  thoroughly  study  history. 
Above  all,  it  applies  to  the  general  history  of  the 
Christian  era,  and  of  our  great  epoch  (from  the  sec 
ond  half  of  the  18th  century).  Most  of  the  Ameri 
cans  are  only  very  superficially  familiar  with  the 


JAMTAKT,  1862.]  DIARY.  141 

history  of  continental  Europe,  or  know  it  only  by 
its  contact  with  the  history  of  England.  Many  of 
them  are  more  familiar  with  the  classical  wars  of 
Alexander,  Hannibal,  Caesar,  etc.,  than  with  those 
of  Gustavus,  Frederick  II.,  and  even  of  Napoleon. 
Were  it  otherwise,  strategy  would  not  to  such  an 
extent  have  taken  hold  of  their  brains. 

Mr.  Adams  was  terribly  unhorsed  during  the 
Trent  excitement  in  England ;  he  literally  began  to 
pack  up  his  trunks,  and  asked  a  personal  advice 
from  Lord  John  Russell. 

What  a  devoted  patriot  this  Sandford  in  Belgium 
is ;  he  has  continual  tickings  in  his  hand  to  pay  a 
higher  price  for  bad  blankets  that  they  may  not  fall 
into  the  hands  of  secesh  agents  ;  so  with  cloth,  so 
perhaps  with  arms.  Oh,  disinterested  patriot ! 

Austria  and  Prussia  whipped  in  by  England  and 
France,  and  at  the  same  time  glad  to  have  an  occa 
sion  to  take  the  airs  of  maritime  powers.  Austria 
and  Prussia  sent  their  advice  concerning  the  Trent 
affair.  The  kick  of  asses  at  what  they  suppose  to 
be  the  dying  lion. 

Austria  and  Prussia !  Great  heavens  !  Ask  the 
prisons  of  both  those  champions  of  violated  rights 
how  many  better  men  than  Slidell  and  Mason 
groaned  in  them ;  and  the  conduct  of  those  powers 
against  the  Poles  in  1831 !  Was  it  neutral  or  hon 
est? 

I  am  sure  that  Russia  will  behave  well,  and  ab 
stain  from  coming  forward  with  uncalled-for  and 
humiliating  advice.  Russia  is  a  true  great  power, 


142  D I A  E  Y.  [JANUARY,  1862. 

—  a  true  friend,  —  and  such  noble  behavior  will  be 
in  harmony  with  the  character  of  Alexander  II. , 
and  with  the  friendliness  and  clear  perception  cf 
events  held  by  the  Russian  minister  here.  I  hope 
that  when  the  war  is  over  the  West  Point  nursery 
will  be  reformed,  and  a  general  military  organiza 
tion  introduced,  such  a  one  as  exists  in  Switzerland. 

McClellan  is  a  greater  mistake  than  was  even 
Scott.  McClellan  knows  not  the  A  B  C  of  military 
history  of  any  nation  or  war,  or  he  would  not  keep 
this  army  so  in  camp.  He  would  know  that  after 
recruits  have  been  roughly  instructed  in  the  rudi 
ments  of  a  drill,  the  next  best  instructor  is  fighting. 
So  it  was  in  the  thirty  years'  war ;  so  in  the  Ameri 
can  Revolution  ;  so  in  the  first  French  revolutionary 
wars.  Strategians,  martinets,  lost  the  battles,  or 
rather  the  campaigns,  of  Austerlitz,  of  Jena,  etc. 
In  1813  German  rough  levies  fought  almost  before 
they  were  drilled,  and  at  Bautzen  French  recruits 
were  victorious  over  Prussians,  Russians,  and  Aus- 
trians.  The  secesh  fight  with  fresh  levies,  etc. 

Numerous  political  intriguers  surrounding  Mc 
Clellan  are  busily  laying  tracks  for  him  to  the  White 
House.  What  will  Seward  and  Chase  say  to  it,  and 
even  old  Abe,  who  himself  dreams  of  re-election,  or 
at  least  his  friends  do  it  for  him  ?  All  these  can 
didates  forget  that  the  surest  manner  to  rcacli  the 
White  House  is  not  to  think  of  it  —  to  forget  oneself 
and  to  act. 

It  is  amusing  to  find  in  European  papers  all  the 
various  stories  about  Mr.  Lincoln.  There  he  is 


JANUARY,  1862.]  DIARY.  143 

represented  as  a  violent, "blood-thirsty  revolutionaire, 

dragging  the  people  after  him.  In  this  manner, 
those  European  imbeciles  are  acquainted  with  Amer 
ican  events,  character,  etc.  They  cannot  find  out 
that  in  decision,  in  clear-sightedness  and  soundness 
of  judgment,  the  people  arc  far  ahead  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  of  his  spiritual  or  constitutional  conscience-keep 
ers.  And  the  same  imbeciles,  if  not  canailes,  speak 
of  a  mob-rule  over  the  President,  etc.  Some  one 
ought  to  enlighten  those  French  and  English  super 
cilious  ignorami  that  something  like  a  mob  only  pre 
vails  in  such  cities  as  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
Baltimore  ;  and  nine-tenths  of  such  a  mob  are  mostly 
yet  unwashed,  iinrepublicanized  Europeans.  The 
ninety-nine  one-hundredths  of  the  freemen  of  the 
North  are  more  orderly,  more  enlightened,  more  law- 
abiding,  and  more  moral  than  are  the  English  lord- 
lings,  somebodies,  nobodies,  and  would-be  some 
bodies.  In  the  West,  lynch-law,  to  be  sure,  is  at 
times  used  against  brothels,  bar-rooms,  gambling- 
houses,  and  thieves.  It  would  be  well  to  do  the  same 
in  London,  were  it  not  that  most  of  the  lynch-lawed 
may  not  belong  to  the  people.  If  the  European 
scribblers  were  not  past  any  honest  impulse,  they 
would  know  that  the  South  is  the  generator  and  the 
congenial  region  for  the  mob,  the  filibusters,  the 
revolver  and  the  bowie-knife  rule.  In  the  South  the 
proportion  of  mobs  to  decency  is  the  reverse  of  that 
prevailing  in  tlie  free  States.  The  slavery  gentle 
man  is  a  scarcely  varnished  savage,  for  whom  the 
highest  law  is  his  reckless  passion  and  will. 


144  DIARY.  [JANUARY,  1862. 

If  Jeff.  Davis  succeeds,  he  will  be  the  founder  of 
a  new  and  great  slaveholding  empire.  His  name 
will  resound  in  after  times  ;  but  history  will  record 
his  name  as  that  of  a  curse  to  humanity. 

And  so  Davis  is  making  history  and  Lincoln  is 
telling  stories.  Beauregard  gets  inspired  by  the 
fumes  of  bivouacs ;  McClellan  by  the  fumes  of  flat 
terers.  Beauregard  frightens  us,  McClellan  rocks 
his  baby.  Beauregard  shares  the  camp-fires  of  his 
soldiers ;  he  sees  them  daily,  knows  them,  as  it  is 
said,  one  by  one ;  McClellan  lives  comfortably  in  the 
city,  and  appears  only  to  the  soldiers  as  the  great 
Lama  on  special  occasions.  Camp-fellowship  in 
spired  all  the  great  captains  and  established  the 
magnetic  current  between  the  leader  and  the  soldier. 

McClellan  organized  a  board  of  generals,  arriving 
daily  from  the  camps,  to  discuss  some  new  fancy 
army  equipment.  And  Lincoln,  Seward,  Blair,  and 
all  the  tail  of  intriguers  and  imbeciles,  still  admire 
him.  In  no  other  country  would  such  a  futile 
man  be  kept  in  command  of  troops  opposed  to  a 
deadly  and  skilful  enemy. 

For  several  weeks,  McClellan  and  his  chief  of  the 
staff  (such  as  he  is)  are  sick  in  bed,  and  no  one  is 
ad  interim  appointed  to  attend  to  the  current  affairs 
of  our  army  of  600,000,  having  the  enemy  before 
their  nose.  Oh  human  imbecility  !  No  satirist  could 
invent  such  things  ;  and  if  told,  it  would  not  be  be 
lieved  in  Europe. 

The  McClellan-worship  by  the  people  at  large  is 
to  be  explained  by  the  firm,  ardent  will  of  the  people 


JANUARY,  1862.]  DIARY.  145 

to  crush  the  rebels,  and  by  the  general  feeling  of  the 
necessity  of  a  man  for  that  purpose.  Such  is  the 
case  with  the  true,  confiding  people  in  the  country ; 
but  here,  contractors,  martinets,  and  intriguers  are 
the  blowers  of  that  worship.  Lincoln  is  as  is  the 
people  at  large  ;  but  a  Seward,  a  Blair,  a  Herald,  a 
Times,  and  their  respective  and  numerous  tails, — 
as  for  their  motives,  they  are  the  reverse  of  Lincoln 
and  of  the  people. 

Victories  in  Kentucky,  beyond  the  circumference 
or  the  direct  action  from  here  ;  they  are  obtained 
without  strategy  and  by  rough  levies.  But  this 
voice  of  events  is  not  understood  by  the  McClcllan 
tross. 

Change  in  the  Cabinet :  Stanton,  a  new  man, 
not  from  the  parlor,  and  not  from  the  hacks.  His 
bulletin  on  the  victory  in  Kentucky  inaugurated  a 
new  era.  It  is  a  voice  that  nobody  hitherto  uttered 
in  America.  It  is  the  awakening  voice  of  the  good 
genius  of  the  people,  almost  as  that  which  awoke 
Lazarus.  This  Stanton  is  the  people  ;  I  never  saw 
him,  but  I  hope  he  is  the  man  for  the  events  ;  per 
haps  he  may  turn  out  to  be  my  statesman. 

1  wish  I  could  get  convinced  of  the  real  superior 
ity  of  Fremont.  It  is  true  that  he  was  treated  badly 
and  had  natural  and  artificial  difficulties  to  over 
come  ;  it  is  true  that  to  him  belongs  the  credit  of 
having  started  the  construction  of  the  mortar  fleet ; 
but  likewise  it  is  true  that  he  was,  at  the  mildest, 
unsurpassingly  reckless  in  contracts  and  expendi 
tures,  and  I  shall  never  believe  him  a  general. 
10 


146  DIARY.  [JANUARY,  1862. 

With  all  this,  Fremont  started  a  great  initiative  at  a 
time  when  McClellan  and  three-fourths  of  the  gene 
rals  of  his  creation  considered  it  a  greater  crime  to 
strike  at  a  gentleman  slaveholder  than  to  strike  at 
the  Union. 

The  courtesies  and  hospitalities  paid  to  Thurlow 
W<fted  by  English  society  are  clamored  here  in 
various  ways.  These  courtesies  prove  the  high 
breeding  and  the  good-will  of  a  part,  at  least,  of  the 
English  aristocracy  and  of  English  statesmen.  I 
do  not  suppose  that  Thurlow  Weed  could  ever  have 
been  admitted  in  such  society  if  he  were  travelling 
on  his  own  merits  as  the  great  lobbyist  and  politi 
cian.  At  the  utmost,  he  would  have  been  shown 
up  as  a  rara  avis.  But  introduced  to  English  so 
ciety  as  the  master  spirit  of  Mr.  Seward,  and  as 
Seward's  semi-official  confidential  agent,  Thurlow 
Weed  was  admitted,  and  even  petted.  But  it  is 
another  question  if  this  palming  of  a  Thurlow 
Weed  upon  the  English  high-toned  statesmen  in 
creased  their  consideration  for  Mr.  Seward.  The 
Duke  of  Newcastle  and  others  are  not  yet  softened, 
and  refuse  to  be  humbugged. 

Whoever  has  the  slightest  knowledge  of  how  af 
fairs  are  transacted,  is  well  aware  that  the  times  of 
a  personal  diplomacy  arc  almost  gone.  The  excep 
tions  are  very  rare,  very  few,  and  the  persons  must 
be  of  other  might  and  intellectual  mettle  than  a 
Sandford,  Weed,  or  Hughes.  Great  affairs  are  not 
conducted  or  decided  by  conversations,  but  by 
great  interests.  Diplomatic  agents,  at  the  utmost, 


JAJCCARY,  1862.]  DIARY.  147 

serve  to  keep  their  respective  governments  informed 
about  the  run  of  events.  Mr.  Mercier  does  it  for 
Louis  Napoleon  ;  but  Mr.  Mercier's  reports,  however 
friendly  they  may  be,  cannot'  much  influence  a  man 
of  such  depth  as  Louis  Napoleon,  and  to  imagine 
that  a  Hughes  will  be  able  to  do  it !  I  am  ashamed 
of  Mr.  Seward  ;  he  proves  by  this  would-be-crotchety 
policy  how  little  he  knows  of  events  and  of  men, 
and  how  he  undervalues  Louis  Napoleon.  Such 
humbug  missions  are  good  to  throw  dirt  in  the  eyes 
of  a  Lincoln,  a  Chase,  etc.,  but  in  Europe  such 
things  are  sent  to  Coventry.  And  Hughes  to  influ 
ence  Spain  !  Oh  !  oh  ! 

Dayton  frets  on  account  of  the  mission  of  Hughes. 
Dayton  is  right.  Generally  Dayton  shows  a  great 
deal  of  good  sense,  of  good  comprehension,  and  a 
noble  and  independent  character.  He  is  not  a  flat 
terer,  not  servile,  and  subservient  to  Mr.  Seward,  as 
are  others  —  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Sandford,  and  some 
few  other  diplomatic  agents. 

The  active  and  acting  abolitionists  ought  to  con 
centrate  all  their  efforts  to  organize  thoroughly  and 
efficiently  the  district  of  Beaufort.  The  success  of 
a  productive  colony  there  would  serve  as  a  womb 
for  the  emancipation  at  large. 

Mr.  Seward  declares  that  he  has  given  up  meddling 
with  military  affairs.  For  his  own  sake,  and  for 
the  sake  of  the  country,  I  ardently  wish  it  were  so  ; 
but  —  I  shall  never  believe  it. 

The  Investigating  Committee  has  made  the  most 
thorough  disclosures  of  the  thorough  incapacity  of 


148  DIARY.  [JANUAET,  1862. 

McClellan ;  but  the  McClellan  men,  Seward,  Blair, 
etc.,  neutralize,  stifle  all  the  good  which  could  accrue 
to  the  country  from  these  disclosures.  And  Lincoln 
is  in  their  clutches.  The  administration  by  its  in 
fluence  prevents  the  publication  of  the  results  of 
this  investigation,  prevents  the  truth  from  coming  to 
the  people.  Any  hard  name  will  be  too  soft  for  such 
a  moral  prevarication. 

McClellan  is  either  as  feeble  as  a  reed,  or  a  bad 
man.  The  disorder  around  here  is  nameless. 
Banks  compares  it  to  the  time  of  the  French 
Directory.  Banks  has  no  guns,  no  cavalry,  and  is 
in  the  vanguard.  He  begs  almost  on  his  knees, 
and  cannot  get  anything.  And  the  country  pays  a 
chief  of  the  staff,  and  head  of  the  staffers. 

The  time  must  come,  although  it  be  now  seem 
ingly  distant,  that  the  people  will  awake  from  this 
lethargy;  that  it  will  perceive  how  much  of  the 
noblest  blood  of  the  people,  how  much  time  and 
money,  have  been  worse  than  recklessly  squandered. 
The  people  will  find  it  out,  and  then  they  will  ask 
those  Cains  at  the  wheel  an  account  of  the  innocent 
blood  of  Abel,  the  country's  son,  the  country's  cause. 

The  defenders  of,  and  the  thus  called  moderate 
men  on  the  question  of  slavery,  utter  about  it  the  old 
rubbish  composed  of  the  most  thorough  ignorance 
and  of  disgusting  fallacies,  in  relation  to  this  pseudo 
science,  or  rather  lie,  about  races.  More  of  it  will 
come  out  in  the  course  of  the  Congressional  dis 
cussions.  Not  one  of  them  is  aware  that  independ 
ent  science,  that  comparative  anatomy,  physiology, 


JASUABT,  1862.]  DIARY.  149 

psychology,  anthropology,  that  philosophy  of  history 
altogether  and  thoroughly  repudiate  all  these  super 
ficially  asserted,  or  tried-to-be-established,  intrinsic 
diversities  and  peculiarities  of  races.  All  these 
would-be  axioms,  theories,  are  based  on  sand.  In 
true  science  the  question  of  race  as  represented 
by  the  Southern  school  partisans  of  slavery,  with 
Agassiz,  the  so-called  professor  of  Charleston  by 
European  savans,  at  their  head,  —  that  question  is 
at  the  best  an  illusive  element,  and  endangers  the 
accuracy  of  induction.  As  it  presents  itself  to  the 
unprejudiced  investigator,  race  is  nothing  more  than 
the  single  manifestation  of  anterior  stages  of  exist 
ence,  the  aggregate  expression  of  the  pre-historic 
vicissitudes  of  a  people. 

If  those  would-be  knowing  arguers  on  slavery, 
race,  etc.,  were  only  aware  of  the  fact  that  such 
people  as  the  primitive  Greeks,  or  the  ancestors  of 
classical  Greeks,  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Latins, 
that  even  the  roving,  robbing  ancestors  of  the  Anglo 
Saxons,  in  somg  way  or  other,  have  been  anthropoph 
agi,  and  worshipped  fetishes ;  and  even  as  thus  call 
ed  already  civilized,  they  sacrificed  men  to  gods,  — 
could  our  great  pro-slavers  know  all  this,  they 
would  be  more  decent  in  their  ignorant  assertions, 
and  not,  so  self-satisfied,  strut  about  in  their  dark 
ignorance. 

Those  who  are  afraid  that  the  freed  negroes  of  the 
South  will  run  to  the  Northern  free  States,  display 
an  ignorance  still  greater  than  the  former.  When 
the  enslaved  colored  Americans  in  the  South  shall 


150  DIARY.  [J  ANTI  ART,  1862. 

be  all  thoroughly  emancipated  in  that  now  cursed 
region,  then  they  will  remain  in  the,  to  them,  con 
genial  climate,  and  in  the  favorable  economical 
conditions  of  labor  and  of  existence.  Not  only 
those  emancipated  will  not  run  North,  but  the 
colored  population  from  the  free  States,  incited  and 
stirred  up  by  natural  attractions,  will  leave  the 
North  for  the  South,  as  small  streamlets  and  rivu 
lets  run  into  a  large  current  or  river. 

The  rebels  extend  on  an  immense  bow,  nearly  one 
hundred  miles,  from  the  lower  to  the  upper  Potomac. 
Our  army,  two  to  one,  is  on  the  span  of  the  arc,  and 
we  do  nothing.  A  French  sergeant  would  be  better 
inspired  than  is  McClellan. 


FEBRUARY,    1862. 

Drifting  —  The  English  blue  book  —  Lord  John  could  not  act  differently 

—  Palmerston  the  great  European  fuss-maker  —  Mr.  Scward's  "  two 
pickled  rods  "  for  England  —  Lord  Lyons  —  His  pathway  strewn  with 
broken  glass  —  Gen.  Stone  arrested  —  Sumncr's  resolutions  infuse  a 
new  spirit  in  the  Constitution  —  Mr.  Seward  beyond  salvation—  Ho 
works  to  save  slavery  —  Weed  has  ruined  him  —  The  New  York  press 

—  "  roor  Tribune  "  —  The  Evening  Post  —  The  Blairs  —  Illusions  dis 
pelled—  "  All  quiet  on  the  Potomac"—  The  London  papers  —  Quill  - 
heroes  can  be  bought  for  a  dinner  —  French  opinion  —  Superhuman 
efforts  to  save  slavery  —  It  is  doomed!  —  "All  you  worshippers  of 
darkness  cannot  save  it!"  —  The  Hutchiusons  —  Corporal  Adams  — 
Victories  in  the  West  —  Stanton  the  man  !  —  Strategy  (hear  !  hear  !  ) 


arc  obliged,  one  by  one,  to  eat  our  official 
high-toned  assertions  and  words,  and  day  after  day 
we  drift  towards  putting  the  rebels  on  an  equal  foot 
ing  with  ourselves.  We  declared  the  privateers  to 
be  pirates  (which  they  arc),  and  now  we  proffer  their 
exchange  against  our  colonels  and  other  honorable 
prisoners.  So  one  radical  evil  generates  numberless 
others.  And  from  the  beginning  of  the  struggle 
this  radical  evil  was  and  is  the  want  of  earnestness, 
of  a  firm  purpose,  and  of  a  straight,  vigorous  policy 
by  the  administration.  Paullatim  summa  pctuntur 
may  turn  out  true  —  but  for  the  rebels. 

The  publication  of  the  English  blue  book,  or  of 
official  correspondence  between  Lord  Lyons  and 
Lord  John  Russell,  throws  a  new  light  on  the  con- 

151 


152  DIARY.  [FEBRUARY,  1862. 

duct  of  the  English  Cabinet ;  and,  anglophobe  as  I 
am,  I  must  confess  that,  all  things  considered,  above 
all  the  unhappily-justified  distrust  of  England  in 
Mr.  Scward's  policy,  —  from  the  first  day  of  our 
troubles  Lord  John  Russell  could  not  act  differently 
from  what  he  did.  Lord  John  Russell  had  to  rec 
oncile  the  various  and  immense  interests  of  England, 
jeopardized  by  the  war,  with  his  sincere  love  of  hu 
man  liberty.  Therein  Lord  John  Russell  differs 
wholly  from  Lord  Palmerston,  this  great  European 
fuss-maker,  who  hates  America.  As  far  as  it  was 
possible,  Lord  J.  Russell  remained  faithful  to  the 
noble  (not  hereditary,  but  philosophical)  traditions 
of  his  blood.  Lord  John  Russell's  letter  to  Lord 
Lyons  (No.  17),  February  20,  1861,  although  full 
of  distrust  in  the  future  policy  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
Cabinet  towards  England,  is  nevertheless  an  honor 
able  document  for  his  name. 

Lord  J.  Russell  was  well  aware  that  the  original 
plan  of  Mr.  Seward  was  to  annoy  and  worry  Eng 
land.  Everything  is  known  in  this  world,  and 
especially  the  incautious  words  and  conversations  of 
public  men.  Months  before  the  inauguration,  Mr. 
Seward  talked  to  senators  of  both  parties  that  he 
had  in  store  "  two  pickled  rods  "  for  England.  The 
one  was  to  be  Green  (always  drunken),  the  Senator 
from  Missouri,  on  account  of  the  colored  man 
Anderson ;  the  other  Mr.  Nesmith,  the  Senator  from 
Oregon,  and  the  San  Juan  boundaries.  Undoubted 
ly  the  Southern  senators  did  not  keep  secret  the  like 
inimical  forebodings  concerning  Mr.  Seward's  inten- 


FEBRUARY,  1882.  J  DIARY.  153 

tions  towards  England.  Undoubtedly  all  this  must 
have  been  known  to  Lord  J.  Russell  when  he  wrote 
the  above-mentioned  letter,  No.  17. 

More  even  than  Lord  John  Russell's,  Lord  Lyons's 
official  correspondence  since  November,  1800,  in 
spires  the  highest  possible  respect  for  his  noble  sen 
timents  and  character.  Above  all,  one  who  wit 
nessed  the  difficulties  of  Lord  Lyons's  position  here, 
and  how  his  pathway  was  strewn  with  broken  glass, 
and  this  by  all  kinds  of  hands,  must  feel  for  him 
the  highest  and  most  sincere  consideration.  From 
the  official  correspondence,  Lord  Lyons  comes  out  a 
friend  of  humanity  and  of  human  liberty, — just  the 
reverse  of  what  he  generally  was  supposed  to  be. 
And  during  the  whole  Trent  affair,  Lord  Lyons's  con 
duct  was  discreet,  delicate,  and  generous.  Events 
may  transform  Lord  Lyons  into  an  official  enemy  of 
the  Union  ;  but  a  mind  soured  by  human  meanness 
is  soothingly  impressioned  by  such  true  nobleness  in 
a  diplomat  and  an  Englishman. 

Gen.  Stone,  of  Ball's  Bluff  infamous  massacre, 
arrested.  Bravo  !  At  the  best,  Stone  was  one  of 
those  conceited  regulars  who  admired  slavery,  and 
who  would  have  wished  to  save  the  Union  in  their 
own  peculiar  way.  I  wish  he  may  speak,  as  in  all 
probability  he  was  not  alone. 

Sumner's  resolutions  infuse  a  new  spirit  in  the 
Constitution,  and  elevate  it  from  the  low  ground  of 
a  dead  formula.  The  resolutions  close  the  epoch  of 
the  Stories,  of  the  Kents,  of  the  Curtises,  and  in 
augurate  a  higher  comprehension  of  American  con- 


154  DIARY.  [FEBRUARY,  1862. 

stitutionalism.  During  this  session  Charles  Sum- 
ner  triumphantly  and  nobly  annihilated  the  asper 
sions  of  his  enemies,  representing  him  as  a  man  of 
one  hobby,  but  lacking  any  practical  ideas.  His 
speech  on  currency  was  among  the  best.  Not  so 
with  his  speech  about  the  Trent  affair.  It  is  super 
ficial,  and  contains  misconceptions  concerning  trea 
ties,  and  other  blunders  very  strange  in  a  would-be 
statesman. 

Ardently  devoted  to  the  cause  of  justice  and  of 
human  rights,  Sumner  weakens  the  influence  which 
he  ought  to  exercise,  because  he  impresses  many 
with  the  notion  that  he  looks  more  to  the  outside 
effect  produced  by  him  than  to  the  intrinsic  value 
of  the  subject ;  he  makes  others  suppose  that  he  is 
too  fond  of  such  effect,  and,  above  all,  of  the  effect 
produced  in  Europe  among  the  circle  of  his  Eng 
lish  and  European  acquaintances. 

It  is  positively  asserted  that  Lincoln  agreed  to 
take  Mr.  Seward  in  the  Cabinet,  because  Weed  and 
others  urgently  represented  that  Mr.  Seward  is  the 
only  man  in  the  Republican  party  who  is  familiar 
with  Europe,  with  her  statesmen,  and  their  policy. 
0  Lord  !  0  Lord !  And  where  has  Seward  ac 
quired  all  this  information  ?  Mr.  Seward  had  not 
even  the  first  A  B  C  of  it,  or  of  anything  else  con 
nected  with  it.  And,  besides,  such  a  kind  of 
special  information  is,  at  the  utmost,  of  secondary 
necessity  for  an  American  statesman.  Marcy  had 
it  not,  and  was  a  true,  a  genuine  statesman.  Un 
doubtedly,  nature  has  endowed  Seward  with 


FEBRUABY,  1862.]  DIARY.  155 

nent  intellectual  qualities,  and  with  germs  for  an 
eminent  statesman.  But  the  intellectual  qualities 
became  blunted  by  the  long  use  of  crotchets  and 
tricks  of  a  politician,  by  the  associations  and  influ 
ence  of  such  as  "Weed,  etc. ;  thereby  the  better  germs 
became  nipped,  so  to  speak,  in  the  bud.  Mr.  Scw- 
ard's  acquired  information  by  study,  by  instruction, 
and  by  reading,  is  quite  the  reverse  of  what  in 
Europe  is  regarded  as  necessary  for  a  statesman. 
Often,  very  often,  I  sorrowfully  analyze  and  observe 
Mr.  Seward,  with  feelings  like  those  evoked  in  us  by 
the  sight  of  a  noble  ruin,  or  of  a  once  rich,  natural 
panorama,  but  now  marred  by  large  black  spots  of 
burned  and  dead  vegetation,  or  by  the  ashes  of  a 
volcano. 

Now,  Mr.  Seward  is  beyond  salvation  —  a  "  disap 
pointed  man,"  as  he  called  himself  in  a  conversation 
with  Judge  Potter,  M.  C. ;  he  changed  aims,  and 
perhaps  convictions.  For  Mr.  Seward,  slavery  is  no 
more  the  most  hideous  social  disease  ;  he  abandoned 
that  creed  which  elevated  him  in  the  confidence  of 
the  people.  Now  he  works  to  preserve  as  much  as 
possible  of  the  curse  of  slavery ;  he  does  it  on  the 
plea  of  Union  and  conservatism ;  but  in  truth  he 
wishes  to  disorganize  the  pure  Republican  party, 
which  he  hates  since  the  Chicago  Convention  and 
since  the  days  of  the  formation  of  the  Cabinet. 
Under  the  advice  of  Weed,  Mr.  Seward  attempts  to 
form  a  (thus  called)  Union  and  conservative  party, 
which  at  the  next  turn  may  carry  him  into  the 
White  House. 


156  DIARY.  [FEBRUARY,  1862. 

Seward  considers  Weed  his  good  genius ;  but  in 
reality  Weed  has  ruined  Seward.  Now  Mr.  Seward 
supports  strategy,  imbecility,  and  McClellan.  The 
only  explanation  for  me  is,  that  Seward,  participat 
ing  in  all  military  counsels  and  strategic  plans,  and 
not  understanding  any  of  them,  finds  it  safer  to 
back  McClellan,  and  thus  to  deceive  others  about 
his  own  ignorance  of  military  matters. 

The  press  —  the  New  York  one  — worse  and  worse  ; 
the  majority  wholly  degraded  to  the  standard  of  the 
Herald  and  of  the  Times.  The  poor  Tribune,  daily 
fading  away,  altogether  losing  that  bold,  lofty  spirit 
of  initiative  to  which  for  so  many  years  the  Trib 
une  owed  its  all-powerful  and  unparalleled  influence 
over  the  free  masses.  Now,  at  times,  the  Tribune 
is  similar  to  an  old,  honest  sexagenarian,  attempting 
to  draw  a  night-cap  over  his  ears  and  eyes.  The 
flames  of  the  holy  fire,  so  common  once  in  the  Trib 
une,  flash  now  only  at  distant,  very  distant  epochs. 
The  Evening  Post  towers  over  all  of  them.  If  the 
Evening  Post  never  at  a  jump  went  as  far  as  once 
did  the  Tribune,  the  Evening  Post  never  made  or 
makes  a  retrograde  step ;  but  perhaps  slowly,  but 
steadily  and  boldly,  moves  on.  The  Evening  Post 
is  not  a  paper  of  politicians  or  of  jobbers,  but  of 
enlightened,  well-informed,  and  strong-hearted  pat 
riots  and  citizens. 

Mr.  Blair,  after  all,  is  only  an  ambitious  politi 
cian.  My  illusion  about  both  the  brothers  is  wholly 
dispelled  and  gone.  I  regret  it,  but  both  sustain 
McClellan,  both  look  askant  on  Stanton^  and  belong 


FEBHtTART,  1862.]  DIARY.  157 

to  the  conditional  emancipationists,  colonizationists, 
and  other  RADICAL  preservers  of  slavery.  All  such 
form  a  class  of  superficial  politicians,  of  compro 
misers  with  their  creed,  and  are  corrtipters  of 
others. 

How  ardently  I  would  prefer  not  to  so  often  ac 
cuse  others ;  but  more  than  forty  years  of  revolu 
tionary  and  public  life  and  experience  have  taught 
me  to  discriminate  between  deep  convictions  and 
assumed  ones  —  to  highly  venerate  the  first,  and  to 
keep  aloof  from  the  second.  Gold  is  gold,  and 
pinchbeck  is  pinchbeck,  in  character  as  in  metal. 

McClcllan  acts  as  if  he  had  taken  the  oath  to 
some  hidden  and  veiled  deity  or  combination,  by  all 
means  not  to  ascertain  anything  about  the  condi 
tion  of  the  enemy.  Any  European  if  not  American 
old  woman  in  pants  long  ago  would  have  pierced 
the  veil  ^  by  a  strong  reconnoissance  on  Ccntreville. 
Here  "  all  quiet  on  the  Potomac."  And  I  hear 
generals,  West  Pointers,  justifying  this  colossal 
offence  against  common  sense,  and  against  the  rudi 
ments  of  military  tactics,  and  even  science.  Oh, 
noble,  but  awfully  dealt  with,  American  people  ! 

At  times  Mr.  Seward  talks  and  acts  as  if  he 
lacked  altogether  the  perception  of  the  terrible  ear 
nestness  of  the  struggle,  of  the  dangers  and  respon 
sibilities  of  his  political  position,  as  well  now  before 
the  people  as  hereafter  before  history.  Often  I  can 
scarcely  resist  answering  him,  Beware,  beware  ! 

Lincoln  belittles  himself  more  and  more.  What 
ever  he  does  is  done  under  the  pressure  of  events, 


158  DIARY.  [FEBRUARY,  1862. 

under  the  pressure  of  the  public  opinion.  These 
agencies  push  Lincoln  and  slowly  move  him,  not 
withstanding  his  reluctant  heaviness  and  his  resist 
ance.  And  he  a  standard-bearer  of  this  noble 
people  ! 

Those  mercenary,  ignorant,  despicable  scribblers 
of  the  London  Times,  of  the  Tory  Herald,  of  the 
Saturday  Review,  and  of  the  police  papers  in  Paris, 
as  the  Constitutionnel,  the  Pays,  the  Patrie,  all  of 
them  lie  with  unparalleled  facility.  Any  one  knows 
that  those  hungry  quill-heroes  can  be  got  for  a  good 
dinner  and  a  douceur. 

I  am  sorry  that  the  Americans  ascribe  to  Louis 
Napoleon  and  to  the  French  people  the  hostility 
to  human  rights  as  shown  by  those  echappes  des 
bagnes  de  la  literature.  Louis  Napoleon  and  the 
French  people  have  nothing  in  common  with  those 
literary  blacklegs. 

The  Journal  des  Debats,  the  Opinion  Nationale, 
the  Presse,  the  Siecle,  etc.,  constitute  the  true  and 
honest  organs  of  opinion  in  France.  In  the  same 
way  A.  de  Gasparin  speaks  for  the  French  people 
with  more  authority  than  does  Michel  Chevalier, 
who  knows  much  more  about  free  trade,  about 
canals  and  railroads,  but  is  as  ignorant  of  the  char 
acter,  of  the  spirit,  and  of  the  institutions  of  the 
American  people,  as  he  is  ignorant  concerning  the 
man  in  the  moon.  So  the  lawyer  Hautefcuillc  must 
have  received  a  fee  to  show  so  much  ill-will  to  the 
cause  of  humanity,  and  such  gigantic  ignorance. 

Wlio  began  the  civil  war  ?  is  repeatedly  discussed 


FEBRUARY,  1862.]  DIARY.  159 

by  those  quill  cut-throats  and  allies  on  the  Thames 
and  on  the  Seine. 

Here  some  smaller  diplomats  (not  Sweden,  who 
is  true  to  the  core  to  the  cause  of  liberty),  and, 
above  all,  the  would-be  fashionable  galopins  des  le 
gations,  are  the  cesspools  of  secession  news,  picked 
up  by  them  in  secesh  society.  Happily,  the  like 
galopins  are  the  reverse  of  the  opinions  of  their  re 
spective  chiefs. 

What  superhuman  efforts  are  made  in  Congress, 
and  out  of  it,  in  the  Cabinet,  in  the  White  House, 
by  Union  men,  —  Seward  imagines  he  leads  them, 
—  by  the  weak-brained,  and  by  traitors,  to  save 
slavery,  if  not  all,  at  least  a  part  of  it.  Every  con 
cession  made  by  the  President  to  the  enemies  of 
slavery  has  only  one  aim ;  it  is  to  mollify  their 
urgent  demands  by  throwing  to  them  small  crumbs, 
as  one  tries  to  mollify  a  boisterous  and  hungry  dog. 
By  such  a  trick  Lincoln  and  Seward  try  to  save 
what  can  be  saved  of  the  peculiar  institution,  to 
gratify,  and  eventually  to  conciliate,  the  South. 
This  is  the  policy  of  Lincoln,  of  Seward,  and  very 
likely  of  Mr.  Blair.  Such  political  gobe-mouche  as 
Doolittle  and  many  others,  are,  or  will  be,  taken  in 
by  this  manoeuvre. 

Scheme  what  you  like,  you  schemers,  wiseacres, 
politicians,  and  would-be  statesmen,  nevertheless 
slavery  is  doomed.  Humanity  will  have  the  best 
against  such  pettifoggers  as  you.  I  know  better.  I 
have  the  honor  to  belong  to  that  European  genera 
tion  who,  during  this  half  of  our  century,  from 


160  DIARY.  [FEBRUARY,  1862. 

Tagus  and  Cadiz  to  the  "Wolga,  has  gored  with  its 
blood  battle-fields  and  scaffolds  ;  whose  songs  and 
aspirations  were  re-echoed  by  all  the  horrible  dun 
geons  ;  by  dungeons  of  the  blood-thirsty  Spanish 
inquisition,  then  across  Europe  and  Asia,  to  the 
mines  of  Nertschinsk,  in  the  ever-frozen  Altai.  We 
lost  all  we  had  on  earth ;  seemingly  we  were  always 
beaten ;  but  Portugal  and  Spain  enjoy  to-day  a  con 
stitutional  regime  that  is  an  improvement  on  abso 
lutism.  France  has  expelled  forever  the  Bourbons, 
and  universal  suffrage,  spelt  now  by  the  French  peo 
ple,  is  a  progress,  is  a  promise  of  a  great  democratic 
future.  Germany  has  in  part  conquered  free  speech 
and  free  press.  Italy  is  united,  Romanism  is  falling 
to  pieces,  Austria  is  undermined  and  shaky,  and 
broken  are  the  chains  on  the  body  of  the  Russian 
serf.  All  this  is  the  work  of  the  spirit  of  the  age, 
and  our  generation  was  the  spirit's  apostle  and  con 
fessor.  And  so  it  will  be  with  slavery,  and  all  you 
worshippers  of  darkness  cannot  save  it. 

Not  the  one  who  strikes  the  first  blow  begins  a 
civil  war,  but  he  who  makes  the  striking  of  the 
blow  imperative.  The  Southern  robbers  cannot 
claim  exemption ;  they  stole  the  arsenals,  and  struck 
the  first  blow  at  Sumpter.  So  much  for  the  infa 
mous  quill-heroes  of  the  London  Times,  the  Herald, 
and  tutti  quanti. 

The  highest  crime  is  treason  in  arms,  and  this 
crime  is  praised  and  defended  by  the  English  would- 
be  high-toned  press.  But  sooner  or  later  it  will 
come  out  how  much  apiece  was  paid  to  the  London 


FEBRUARY,  1862.]  DIARY.  161 

Times,  the  Herald,  and  the  Saturday  Review  for 
their  venomous  articles  against  the  Union. 

McClellan  expelled  from  the  army  the  Hutchin- 
son  family.  It  is  mean  and  petty.  Songs  are  the 
soul  and  life  of  the  camp,  and  McClellan's  heroic 
deeds  have  not  yet  found  their  minstrel. 

After  all,  McClellan  has  organized  —  nothing ! 
McDowell  has,  so  to  speak,  formed  the  first  skele 
tons  of  brigades,  divisions,  of  parks  of  artillery,  etc. 
The  people  uninterruptedly  poured  in  men  and 
treasures,  and  McClellan  only  continued  what  was 
commenced  before  him. 

I  positively  know  that  already  in  December  Mr. 
Lincoln  began  to  be  doubtful  of  McClellan's  gener 
alship.  This  doubtfulness  is  daily  increasing,  and 
nevertheless  Mr.  Lincoln  keeps  that  incapacity  in 
command  because  he  does  not  wish  to  hurt  Me  Clel- 
lari's  feeling-s.  Better  to  ruin  the  noble  people,  the 
country  !  I  begin  to  draw  the  conclusion  that  Mr. 
Lincoln's  good  qualities  are  rather  negative  than 
positive. 

Mr.  Adams  complains  that  he  is  kept  in  the  dark 
about  the  policy  of  the  administration,  and  cannot 
answer  questions  made  to  him  in  London.  But  the 
administration,  that  is,  Lincoln  and  Seward,  are  a 
little  a  la  Micawber,  expecting  what  may  turn  up. 
And,  besides  this.,  the  great  orator  de  land  caprina 
(Mr.  Adams)  deliberately  degraded  himself  to  the 
condition  of  a  corporal  under  Mr.  Seward's  orders. 

Victories  in  the  West,  results  of  the  new  spirit  in 
the  War  Department.     Stanton  will  be  the  man. 
11 


162  DIARY.  [FEBRUARY,  1862. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  such  commanders  as  Hal- 
leek,  etc.,  sit  in  cities  and  fight  through  those  under 
them ;  and  there  are  ignoble  flatterers  trying  to 
attribute  these  victories  to  McClellan,  and  to  his 
strategy.  As  if  battles  could  be  commanded  by 
telegraph  at  one  thousand  miles'  distance.  It  is 
worse  than  imbecility,  it  is  idiotism  and  strategy. 

Stanton  calls  himself  a  man  of  one  idea.  How  he 
overtops  in  the  Cabinet  those  myrmidons  with  their 
many  petty  notions !  One  idea,  but  a  great  and 
noble  one,  makes  the  great  men,  or  the  men  for 
great  events.  Would  God  that  the  people  may  un 
derstand  Stanton,  and  that  pettifoggers,  imbeciles, 
and  traitors  may  not  push  themselves  between  the 
people  and  Stanton,  and  neutralize  the  only  man 
who  has  the  one  idea  to  break,  to  crush  the  rebellion. 

Every  day  Mr.  Lincoln  shows  his  want  of  knowl 
edge  of  men  and  of  things ;  the  total  absence  of 
intuition  to  spell,  to  see  through,  and  to  disentangle 
events. 

If,  since  March,  1861,  instead  of  being  in  the 
hands  of  pettifoggers,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  in  the 
hands  of  a  man  of  one  idea  as  is  Stanton,  nine- 
tenths  of  the  work  would  have  been  accomplished. 

McClellan's  flunkeys  claim  for  him  the  victories 
in  the  "West.  It  is  impossible  to  settle  which  is 
more  to  be  scorned  in  them,  their  flunkeyism  or 
their  stupidity. 

Lock-jaw  expedition.  For  any  other  government 
whatever,  in  one  even  of  the  most  abject  favoritism, 
such  a  humbug  and  silly  conduct  of  the  commander 


FEBRUARY,  1862.]  DIARY.  163 

and  of  his  chief  of  the  staff  would  open  the  eyes 
even  of  a  Pompadour  or  of  a  Dubarry.  Here,  our 
great  rulers  and  ministers  shut  the  more  closely 
their  mind's  (?)  eyes  *  *  *  * 

For  the  first  time  in  one  of  his  dispatches  Mr. 
Corporal  Adams  dares  to  act  against  orders,  and 
mentions  —  but  very  slightly  —  slavery.  Mr.  Ad 
ams  observes  to  his  chief  that  in  England  public 
opinion  is  very  sensitive ;  at  last  the  old  frcesoiler 
found  it  out. 

How  this  public  opinion  in  America  is  unable  to 
see  the  things  as  they  naturally  arc.  Now  the  pub 
lic  fights  to  whom  to  ascribe  the  victories  in  the 
West.  Common  sense  says,  Ascribe  them,  1st,  to 
the  person  who  ordered  the  fight  (Stanton)  ;  2d, 
exclusively  to  the  generals  who  personally  com 
manded  the  battles  and  the  assaults  of  forts.  Even 
Napoleon  did  not  claim  for  himself  the  glory  for 
battles  won  by  his  generals  when  in  his,  Napoleon's, 
absence. 

For  weeks  McClellan  and  his  thus  called  staff 
diligently  study  international  law,  strategy  (hear, 
hear  !  ),  tactics,  etc.  His  aids  translate  for  his  use 
French  and  German  writers.  One  cannot  even 
apply  in  this  case  the  proverb,  "  Better  late  than 
never,"  as  the  like  hastily  scraped  and  undigested 
sham-knowledge  unavoidably  must  obfuscate  and 
wholly  confuse  McClellan' s  —  not  Napoleonic  — 
brains. 

The  intriguers  and  imbeciles  claim  the  Western 
victories  as  the  illustration  of  McClellan's  great 


164  DIARY.  [FEBRUARY,  1862. 

strategy.  Why  shows  he  not  a  little  strategy  tinder 
his  nose  here?  Any  old  woman  would  surround 
and  take  the  rebels  in  Mana.ssas. 

Now  they  dispute  to  Grant  his  deserved  laurels. 
If  he  had  failed  at  Donelson,  the  strategians  would 
have  washed  their  hands,  and  thrown  on  Grant  the 
disaster.  So  did  Scott  after  Bull  Run. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  McClellan,  Seward,  Blair,  etc.,  for 
get  the  terrible  responsibility  for  thus  recklessly 
squandering  the  best  blood,  the  best  men,  the  best 
generation  of  the  people,  and  its  treasures.  But 
sooner  or  later  they  will  be  taken  to  a  terrible  ac 
count  even  by  the  Congress,  and  at  any  rate  by  his 
tory. 

It  is  by  their  policy,  by  their  support  of  McClel 
lan,  that  the  war  is  so  slow,  and  the  longer  it  lasts 
the  more  human  sacrifices  it  will  devour,  and  the 
greater  the  costs  of  the  devastation.  Stanton  alone 
feels  and  acts  differently,  and  it  seems  that  the  rats 
in  the  Cabinet  already  begin  their  nightly  work 
against  him.  These  rats  are  so  ignorant  and  con 
ceited  ! 

The  celebrated  Souvoroff  was  accused  of  cruelty 
because  he  always  at  once  stormed  fortresses  in 
stead  of  investing  them  and  starving  out  the  inhab 
itants  and  the  garrisons.  The  old  hero  showed  by 
arithmetical  calculations  that  his  bloodiest  assaults 
never  occasioned  so  much  loss  of  human  life  as  did 
on  both  sides  any  long  siege,  digging,  and  approaches, 
and  the  starving  out  of  those  shut  up  in  a  fortress. 
This  for  McClellan  and  for  the  intriguing  and  igno 
rant  EATS. 


MARCH,  1862. 

The  Africo-Amcricans  — Fremont  — The  Orleans  —  Confiscation  —  Amer 
ican  nepotism  —  The  Mcrrimac —  Wooden  guns  —  Oh  shame!  —  Gen. 
Wadsworth  — The  rats  have  the  best  of  Stanton  — McClellan  goes  to 
Fortress  Monroe  — Utter  imbecility  — The  embarkation  — McClellan  a 
turtle  —  He  will  stick  in  the  marshes  —  Louis  Napoleon  behaves  nobly 
—  So  does  Mr.  Mercier  —  Queen  Victoria  for  freedom  —  The  great 
strategian  — Senator  Sumncr  and  the  French  minister  — Archbishop 
Hughes  —  His  diplomatic  activity  not  worth  the  postage  on  his  cor 
respondence  —  Alberoni-Seward  —  Love's  labor  lost. 

MEN  like  this  Davis,  Wickliffe,  and  all  the  like 
pecus,  roar  against  the  African  race.  The  more  I 
see  of  this  doomed  people,  the  more  I  am  convinced 
of  their  intrinsic  superiority  over  all  their  white  re- 
viler  s,  above  all,  over  this  slaveholding  generation, 
rotten,  as  it  is,  to  the  core.  When  emancipated,  the 
Africo- Americans  in  immense  majority  will  at  once 
make  quiet,  orderly,  laborious,  intelligent,  and  free 
cultivators,  or,  to  use  European  language,  an  excel 
lent  peasantry ;  when  ninety-nine  one-hundredths 
of  slaveholders,  either  rebels  or  thus  called  loyal, 
altogether  considered,  as  human  beings  are  shams, 
are  shams  as  citizens,  and  constitute  caricatures  and 
monsters  of  civilization. 

Civilization  !  It  is  the  highest  and  noblest  aim  in 
human  destinies  when  it  makes  the  man  moral  and 

165 


166  DIARY.  [MARCH,  1862. 

true ;  but  civilization  invoked  by,  and  in  which  strut 
traitors,  slaveholders,  and  abettors  of  slavery,  re 
minds  one  of  De  Maistre's  assertion,  that  the  devil 
created  the  red  man  of  America  as  a  counterfeit  to 
man,  God's  creation  in  the  Old  World.  This  so- 
called  civilization  of  the  slaveholders  is  the  devil's 
counterfeit  of  the  genuine  civilization. 

The  Africo-Americans  are  the  true  producers  of 
the  Southern  wealth  —  cotton,  rice,  tobacco,  etc. 
When  emancipated  and  transformed  into  small  far 
mers,  these  laborious  men  will  increase  and  amelio 
rate  the  culture  of  the  land ;  and  they  will  produce  by 
far  more  when  the  white  shams  and  drones  shall  bo 
taken  out  of  their  way.  In  the  South,  bristling  with 
Africo-American  villages,  will  almost  disappear  filli- 
busterism,  murder,  and  the  bowie  knife,  and  other 
supreme  manifestations  of  Southern  chivalrous  liigh- 
breeding. 

Fremont's  reports  and  defence  show  what  a  dis 
order  and  insanity  prevailed  under  the  rule  of  Scott. 
Fremont's  military  capacity  perhaps  is  equal  to  zero; 
his  vanity  put  him  in  the  hands  of  wily  flatterers ; 
but  the  disasters  in  the  West  cannot  be  credited  to 
him.  Fremont  initiated  the  construction  of  the 
mortar  flotilla  on  the  Mississippi  (I  positively  know 
such  is  the  fact),  and  he  suggested  the  capture  of 
various  forts,  but  was  not  sustained  at  this  sham, 
the  head-quarters. 

These  Orleans  have  wholly  espoused  and  share 
in  the  fallacious  and  mischievous  notions  of  the 
McClellanites  concerning  the  volunteers.  Most 


MARCH,  1862.]  DIARY.  167 

probably  with  the  authority  of  their  name,  they 
confirm  McClellan's  fallacious  notions  about  the  ne 
cessity  of  a  great  regular  army.  The  Orleans  are 
good,  generous  boys,  but  their  judgment  is  not  yet 
matured  ;  they  had  better  stayed  at  home. 

Confiscation  is  the  great  word  in  Congress  or  out  of 
it.  The  property  of  the  rebels  is  confiscable  by  the 
ever  observed  rule  of  war,  as  consecrated  by  inter 
national  laws.  When  two  sovereigns  make  war,  the 
victor  confiscates  the  other's  property,  as  represented 
by  whole  provinces,  by  public  domains,  by  public 
taxes  and  revenues.  In  the  present  case  the  rebels 
are  the  sovereigns,  and  their  property  is  therefore 
confiscable.  But  for  the  sake  of  equity,  and  to  com 
pensate  the  wastes  of  war,  Congress  ought  to  decree 
the  confiscation  of  property  of  all  those  who,  being 
at  the  helm,  by  their  political  incapacity  or  tricks 
contribute  to  protract  the  war  and  increase  its 
expense. 

Mr.  Lincoln  yields  to  the  pressure  of  public  opin 
ion.  A  proof:  his  message  to  Congress  about  eman 
cipation  in  the  Border  States.  Crumb  No.  1  thrown 
—  reluctantly  I  am  sure  —  to  the  noble  appetite  of 
freemen.  I  hope  history  will  not  credit  Mr.  Lincoln 
with  being  the  initiator. 

American  nepotism  puts  to  shame  the  one  prac 
tised  in  Europe.  All  around  here  they  keep  offices 
in  pairs,  father  and  son.  So  McClellan  has  a  father 
in-law  as  chief  of  the  staff,  a  brother  as  aid,  and 
then  various  relations,  clerks,  etc.,  etc.,  and  the 
same  in  some  other  branches  of  the  administration. 


168  DIARY.  [MAECH,  1862. 

The  Merrimac  affair.  Terrible  evidence  how  ac 
tive  and  daring  are  the  rebels,  and  we  sleepy,  slow, 
and  self-satisfied.  By  applying  the  formula  of  in 
duction  from  effect  to  cause,  the  disaster  occasioned 
by  the  Merrimac,  and  any  further  havoc  to  be  made 
by  this  iron  vessel,  —  all  this  is  to  be  credited  to 
McClellan. 

If  Norfolk  had  been  taken  months  ago,  then  the 
rebels  could  not  have  constructed  the  Merrimac. 
Norfolk  could  have  been  easily  taken  any  day  dur 
ing  the  last  six  months,  but  for  strategy  and  the 
maturing'  of  great  plans  !  These  are  the  sacramen 
tal  words  more  current  now  than  ever.  Oh  good- 
natured  American  people !  how  little  is  necessary  to 
humbug  thee  ! 

Oh  shame  !  oh  malediction !  The  rebels  left  Cen 
tre  ville, —  which  turns  out  to  be  scarcely  a  breast 
work,  with  wooden  guns, — and  they  slipped  off  from 
Manassas. 

When  McClellan  got  the  news  of  the  evacuation, 
he  gravely  considered  where  to  lean  his  right  or  left 
flanks,  and  after  the  consideration,  two  days  after 
the  enemy  wholly  completed  the  evacuation,  Mc 
Clellan  moves  at  the  head  of  80,000  men  —  to  storm 
the  wooden  guns  of  Centreville.  Two  hours  after 
the  news  of  the  evacuation  reached  the  head-quar 
ters,  Gen.  Wadsworth  asked  permission  to  follow 
with  his  brigade,  during  the  night,  the  retreating 
enemy.  But  it  was  not  strategy,  not  a  matured 
plan.  If  Gen.  Wadsworth  had  been  in  command 
of  the  army,  not  one  of  the  rats  from  Manassas 


MARCH,  1862.]  DIARY.  169 

would  have  escaped.  The  reasons  are,  that  Gen. 
"Wadsworth  has  a  quick,  clear,  and  wide-encompass 
ing  conception  of  events  and  things,  a  clear  insight, 
and  many  other  inborn  qualities  of  mind  and  in 
tellect. 

The  Congress  has  a  large  number  of  very  respect 
able  capacities,  and  altogether  sufficient  for  the 
emergencies,  and  the  Congress  would  do  more  good 
but  for  the  impediments  thrown  in  its  way  by  the 
double-dealing  policy  prevailing  in  Mr.  Lincoln's 
Cabinet  and  administration.  The  majority  in  Con 
gress  represent  well  the  spirit  of  self-government. 
It  is  a  pity  that  Congress  cannot  crush  or  purify  the 
administration. 

All  that  passes  here  is  maddening,  and  I  am  very 
grateful  to  my  father  and  mother  for  having  en 
dowed  me  with  a  frame  which  resists  the  blows. 

The  pursuit  of  the  enemy  abandoned,  the  basis 
of  operations  changed.  The  rats  had  the  best  of 
Stanton.  Utinam  sim  falsus  prophcta,  but  if  Stan- 
ton's  influence  is  no  more  all-powerful,  then  there 
is  an  end  to  the  short  period  of  successes.  Mr. 
Lincoln's  council  wanted  to  be  animated  by  a  pure 
and  powerful  spirit.  Stanton  was  the  man,  but  he 
is  not  a  match  for  impure  intriguers.  Also  McClel- 
lan  goes  to  Fortress  Monroe,  to  Yorktown,  to  the 
rivers.  This  plan  reveals  an  utter  military  imbe 
cility,  and  its  plausibility  can  only  catch . 

1st.  Common  sense  shows  that  the  rebels  ought 
to  be  cut  off  from  their  resources,  that  is,  from  rail 
roads,  and  from  communication  with  the  revolted 


170  DIARY.  [MARCH,  1862. 

States  in  the  interior,  and  to  be  precipitated  into 
the  ocean.  To  accomplish  it  our  troops  ought  to 
have  marched  by  land  to  Richmond,  and  pushed  the 
enemy  towards  the  ocean.  Now  McClellan  pushes 
the  rebels  from  the  extremity  towards  the  centre, 
towards  the  focus  of  their  basis,  —  exactly  what  they 
want. 

I  am  sure  that  McClellan  is  allured  to  this  strat 
egy  by  the  success  of  the  gun-boats  on  the  Missis 
sippi.  He  wishes  that  the  gun-boats  may  take  Rich 
mond,  and  he  have  the  credit  of  it. 

The  Merrimac  is  still  menacing  in  Hampton 
Roads,  and  may,  some  day  or  other,  play  havoc  with 
the  transports.  The  communications  by  land  are 
always  more  preferable  than  those  by  water  —  above 
all  for  such  a  great  army.  A  storm,  etc.,  may  do 
great  mischief. 

McClellan  assures  the  President,  and  the  other 
intriguers  and  fools  constituting  his  supporters,  that 
in  a  few  days  he  will  throw  55,000  men  on  York- 
town.  He  and  his  staff  to  do  such  a  thing,  which 
would  be  a  masterpiece  even  for  the  French  mili 
tary  leaders  and  their  staffs !  He,  McClellan,  never 
knew  what  it  was  to  embark  an  army.  Those  who 
believe  him  are  even  greater  imbeciles  than  I  sup 
posed  them  to  be.  Poor  Stan  ton,  to  be  hampered 
by  imbecility  and  intrigue  !  I  went  to  Alexandria 
to  see  the  embarkation  ;  it  will  last  weeks,  not  days. 

From  Yorktown  to  Richmond,  the  country  is 
marshy,  very  marshy ;  McClellan,  a  turtle,  a  dasip- 
pus,  will  not  understand  to  move  quick  and  to  over- 


MARCH,  1862.]  DIARY.  171 

come  the  impediments.  Faulty  as  it  is  to  drive  Iho 
rebels  from  the  sea  towards  their  centre,  this  false 
move  would  be  corrected  by  rash  and  decisive  move 
ments.  But  McClellan  will  stick  in  the  marshes, 
and  may  never  reach  Richmond  by  that  road. 

Any  man  with  common  sense  would  go  directly 
by  land ;  if  the  army  moves  only  three  miles  a  day 
it  will  reach  Richmond  sooner  than  by  the  other 
way.  Such  an  army  in  a  spell  wrill  construct  turn 
pike  roads  and  bridges,  and  if  the  rebels  tear  up 
the  railroads,  they  likewise  could  be  easily  repaired. 
Progressing  in  the  slowest,  in  the  most  genuine  Mc 
Clellan  manner,  the  army  will  reach  Richmond  with 
less  danger  than  by  the  Peninsula. 

The  future  American  historian  ought  to  record  in 
gold  and  diamonds  the  names  of  those  who  in  the 
councils  opposed  McClcllau  s  new  strategy.  Oh  ! 
Mr.  Scward,  Mr.  Seward,  why  is  your  name  to  be 
recorded  among  the  most  ardent  supporters  of  this 
strategy  ? 

Jeff.  Davis  sneers  at  the  immense  amount  of 
money,  etc.,  spent  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  As  he,  Jeff. 
Davis,  is  still  quietly  in  Richmond,  and  his  army 
undestroyed,  of  course  he  is  right  to  sneer  at  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  McClellan,  whom  he,  Jeff.  Davis,  kept 
at  bay  with  wooden  guns. 

Senator  Sumner  takes  airs  to  defend  or  explain 
McClellan.  The  Senator  is  probably  influenced  by 
Blair.  The  Senator  cannot  be  classed  among  trai 
tors  and  intriguers  supporting  the  great  stratcgian. 


172  DIARY.  [MARCH,  1862. 

Perhaps  likewise  the  Senator  believes  it  to  be  dis 
tingue  to  side  with  strategy. 

If  the  party  and  the  people  could  have  foreseen 
that  civil  war  was  inevitable,  undoubtedly  Mr.  Lin 
coln  would  not  have  been  elected.  But  as  the  cause 
of  the  North  would  have  been  totally  ruined  by  the 
election  of  Lincoln's  Chicago  competitor,  Mr.  Lin 
coln  is  the  lesser  of  the  two  evils. 

A  great  nuisance  is  this  competition  for  all  kinds 
of  news  by  the  reporters  hanging  about  the  city,  the 
government,  and  the  army.  Some  of  these  report 
ers  are  men  of  sense,  discernment,  and  character ; 
but  for  the  sake  of  competition  and  priority  they 
fish  up  and  pick  up  what  they  can,  what  comes  in 
their  way,  even  if  such  news  is  altogether  beyond 
common  sense,  or  beyond  probability. 

In  this  way  the  best  among  the  newspapers  have 
confused  and  misled  the  sound  judgment  of  the  peo 
ple  ;  so  it  is  in  relation  to  the  overwhelming  num 
bers  of  the  rebels,  and  by  spreading  absurdities  con 
cerning  relations  with  Europe.  The  reporters  of 
the  Herald  and  of  the  Times  are  peremptorily  in 
structed  to  see  the  events  through  the  perverted 
spectacles  of  their  respective  bosses. 

Mr.  Adams  gets  either  frightened  or  warm.  Mr. 
A.  insists  on  the  slavery  question,  speaks  of  the  pro 
ject  of  Mason  and  Slidell  in  London  to  offer  certain 
moral  concessions  to  English  anti-slavery  feeling,  — 
such  as  the  regulations  of  marriage,  the  repeal  of 
laws  against  manumission,  etc.  Mr.  Adams  warns 


MARCH,  1862.]  DIARY.  173 

that  these  offers  may  make  an  impression  in  Eng 
land. 

When  all  around  me  I  witness  this  revolting 
want  of  energy,  —  Stanton  cxcepted,  —  this  vacilla 
tion,  these  tricks  and  double-dealings  in  the  govern 
mental  spheres,  then  I  wish  myself  far  off  in  Eu 
rope  ;  but  when  I  consider  this  great  people  outside 
of  the  governmental  spheres,  then  I  am  proud  to  bo 
one  of  the  people,  and  shall  stay  and  fall  with  them. 

How  meekly  the  people  accept  the  disgrace  of 
the  wooden  guns  and  of  the  evacuation  of  Manas- 
sas  !  It  is  true  that  the  partisans  of  McClcllan,  the 
traitors,  the  intriguers,  and  the  imbeciles  are  de 
votedly  at  work  to  confuse  the  judgment  of  the 
people  at  large. 

Mr.  Dayton's  semi-official  conversation  with  Louis 
Napoleon  shows  how  well  disposed  the  Emperor  was 
and  is.  The  Emperor,  almost  as  a  favor,  asks  for  a 
decided  military  operation.  And  in  face  of  such 
news  from  Europe,  Lincoln,  Seward,  and  Blair  sus 
tain  the  do-nothing'  stratcgianl 

Until  now  Louis  Napoleon  behaves  nobly,  and  not 
an  atom  of  reproach  can  be  made  by  the  American 
people  against  his  policy  ;  and  our  policy  many 
times  justly  could  have  soured  him,  as  the  accepta 
tion  of  the  Orleans,  etc.  No  French  vessels  ran 
anywhere  the  blockade ;  sccesh  agents  found  very 
little  if  any  credit  among  French  speculators.  Very 
little  if  any  arms,  munitions,  etc.,  were  bought  in 
France.  And  in  face  of  all  these  positive  facts,  the 
American  wiseacres  here  and  in  Europe,  all  the  bar- 


174  DIARY.  [MAKCH,  1862. 

room  and  street  politicians  here  and  there,  all  the 
would-be  statesmen,  all  the  sham  wise,  are  incessant 
in  their  speculations  concerning  certain  invisible, 
deep,  treacherous  schemes  of  Louis  Napoleon  against 
the  Union.  This  herd  is  full  of  stories  concerning 
his  deep  hatred  of  the  North ;  they  are  incessant  in 
their  warnings  against  this  dangerous  and  scheming 
enemy.  Some  Englishmen  in  high  position  stir  up 
this  distrust.  On  the  authority  of  letters  repeat 
edly  received  from  England,  Senator  Sunnier  is 
always  in  fits  of  distrust  towards  the  policy  of 
France.  The  last  discovery  made  by  all  these  deep 
statesmen  here  and  in  France  is,  that  Louis  Napo 
leon  intends  to  take  Mexico,  to  have  then  a  basis  for 
cooperation  with  the  rebels,  and  to  destroy  us. 
But  Mexico  is  not  yet  taken,  and  already  the  allies 
look  askance  at  each  other.  Those  great  Anglo- 
American  Talleyrands,  Metternichs,  etc.,  bring  down 
the  clear  and  large  intellect  of  Louis  Napoleon  to 
the  atomistic  proportions  of  their  own  sham  brains. 
I  do  not  mean  to  foretell  Louis  Napoleon's  policy  in 
future.  Unforeseen  emergencies  and  complications 
may  change  it.  I  speak  of  what  was  done  up  to 
this  day,  and  repeat,  not  the  slightest  complaint  can 
be  made  against  Louis  Napoleon.  And  in  justice 
to  Mr.  Mercier,  the  French  minister  here,  it  must 
be  recorded  that  he  sincerely  seconds  the  open  policy 
of  his  sovereign.  Besides,  Mr.  Mercier  now  openly 
declares  that  he  never  believed  the  Americans  to  be 
such  a  great  and  energetic  people  as  the  events 
have  shown  them  to  be.  I  am  grateful  to  him  for 


MARCH,  1862.]  D  I  A  R  Y.  175 

this  sense  of  justice,  shared  only  by  few  of  his  diplo 
matic  colleagues. 

In  one  word,  official  and  unofficial  Europe,  in  its 
immense  majority,  is  on  our  side.  The  exceptions, 
therefore,  are  few,  and  if  they  arc  noisy,  they  arc 
not  intrinsically  influential  and  dangerous.  The 
truest  woman,  Queen  Victoria,  is  on  the  side  of 
freedom,  of  right,  and  of  justice.  This  ennobles 
even  her,  and  likewise  ennobles  our  cause.  Not  the 
bad  wishes  of  certain  Europeans  are  in  our  way,  but 
our  slowness,  the  McClcllanism  and  its  supporters. 

Quidquid  delirant  rcges,  plectuntur  achivi !  The 
achivi  is  the  people,  and  the  McClellanists  are  the 
reges. 

Mr.  Seward,  elated  by  victories,  insinuates  to" 
foreign  powers  that  they  may  stop  the  "  recognition 
of  belligerents."  Oh  imagination !  Such  things 
ought  not  even  to  be  insinuated,  as  logic  and  common 
sense  clearly  show  that  the  foreign  cabinets  cannot  do 
it,  and  thus  stultify  themselves.  Seward  believes 
that  his  rhetoric  is  irresistible,  and  will  move  the 
cabinets  of  France  and  of  England.  * 

Not  the  "  recognition  of  belligerents  ; "  let  the  rebels 
slip  off  from  Manassas,  etc.  Mr.  Seward  would  do 
better  for  himself  and  for  the  country  to  give  up 
meddling  with  the  operations  of  the  war,  and  back 
ing  the  bloodless  campaigns  of  the  strategian.  But 
Mr.  Seward,  carried  away  by  his  imagination,  be 
lieves  that  the  cabinets  will  yield  to  his  persuasive 
voice,  and  then,  oh  !  what  a  feather  in  his  diplomatic 


176  DIARY.  [MARCH,  1S62. 

cap  before  the  befogged  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  before  the 
people.  But  pia  desideria. 

In  all  the  wars,  as  well  as  in  all  the  single  cam 
paigns  and  battles,  every  captain  deserving  this 
name  aimed  at  breaking  his  enemy  in  the  centre  or 
at  seizing  his  basis  of  operations,  wherefrom  the 
enemy  draws  its  resources  and  forces.  The  great 
strategian  changed  all  this ;  he  goes  directly  to  the 
circumference  instead  of  aiming  at  the  heart. 

Mr.  Seward,  answering  Mr.  Dayton's  dispatch  con 
cerning  his,  Dayton's,  conversation  with  Louis  Na 
poleon,  points  to  Europe  being  likewise  menaced  by 
revolutionists.  Unnecessary  spread-eagleism,  and 
an  awful  want  of  any,  even  diplomatic,  tact.  I  hope 
that  Mr.  Dayton,  who  has  so  much  sound  sense  and 
discernment,  will  keep  to  himself  this  freak  of  Mr. 
Seward' s  untamable  imagination. 

Under  the  influence  of  insinuations  received  from 
his  English  friends,  Senator  Sumner  said  to  Mr. 
Mercier  (I  was  present)  that  with  every  steamer  he 
expects  a  joint  letter  of  admonition  directed  by  the 
French  and  English  to  our  government.  Mr.  Mer 
cier  retorted,  "  How  can  you,  sir,  have  such  notions  ? 
you  are  too  great  a  nation  to  be  treated  in  this  way. 
Such  letters  would  do  for  Greece,  etc.,  but  not  for 
you."  I  was  sorry  and  glad  for  the  lesson  thus 
given. 

Archbishop  Hughes  was  not  over-successful  in 
France,  and  went  off  rather  second-best  in  the  opin 
ion  of  the  press,  of  the  public,  and  of  the  Catholic, 
even  ultra-Montane  clergy  of  France.  All  this  on 


MARCH,  1832.]  DIARY.  177 

«• 

account  of  his  conditional  anti-slaverism  and  iiiicon- 
ditional  pro-slave rism.  All  this  was  easily  to  be 
foreseen.  His  Eminence  is  in  Rome,  and  from 
Rome  is  to  influence  Spain  in  our  favor. 

Oh  diplomacy !  oh  times  of  Capucine  and  Jesuit 
fathers  and  of  Abbes!  We,  the  children  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  we  recall  you  to  life.  I  do  not 
suppose  that  the  whole  diplomatic  activity  of  his 
Eminence  is  worth  the  postage  of  his  correspondence. 
But  Uncle  Sam  is  generous,  and  pays  him  well.  So 
it  is  with  Thurlow  Weed,  who  tries  to  be  economi 
cal,  is  unsuccessful,  and  cries  for  more  monish.  A 
schoolboy  on  a  spree  ! 

It  seems  that  Weed  loses  not  his  time,  and  tries 
with  Sandford  to  turn  a  penny  in  Belgium.  Oh  dis 
interested  saviors  of  the  country,  and  patriots ! 

But  for  this  violent  development  of  our  domestic 
affairs,  Mr.  Seward  would  have  appeared  before  the 
world  as  the  mediator  between  the  Pope  and  the 
insubordinate  European  nations,  sovereigns,  and 
cabinets. 

Oh,  Alberoni !  oh,  imaginary !  It  beats  any  of 
the  wildest  poets.  In  justice  it  must  be  recorded, 
that  this  great  scheme  of  mediation  was  dancing  be 
fore  Mr.  Seward's  imagination  at  the  epoch  when  he 
was  sure  that,  once  Secretary  of  State,  his  speeches 
would  be  current  and  read  all  over  the  South ;  and 
they,  the  speeches,  would  crush  and  extinguish  se 
cession.  This  Mr.  Seward  assured  one  of  the  patri 
otic  members  of  Buchanan's  expiring  Cabinet. 

Mr.  Seward  is  now  busy  building  up  a  conserva- 
12 


178  DIARY.  [MARCH,  1862. 

tive  Union  party  North  and  South  to  preserve 
slavery,  and  to  crush  the  rampant  Sumnerism,  as 
Thuiiow  Weed  calls  it,  and  advises  Seward  to  do  so. 

Mr.  Seward's  unofficial  agents,  Thurlow  Weed, 
his  Eminence,  and  others,  are  untiring  in  the  in 
cense  of  their  benefactor.  Occasionally,  Mr.  Lincoln 
gets  a  small  share  of  it. 

Sandford  in  Paris  and  Brussels,  Mr.  Adams  and 
ThurLow  Weed  in  London,  work  hard  to  assuage 
and  soften  the  harsh  odor  in  which  Mr.  Seward  is 
held,  above  all,  among  certain  Englishmen  of  mark. 
It  seems,  however,  that  love's  labor  is  lost,  and  Mr. 
Adams,  scholar-like,  explains  the  unsuccess  of  their 
efforts  by  the  following  philosophy :  That  in  great 
convulsions  and  events  it  is  always  the  most  emi 
nent  men  who  become  selected  for  violent  and  vitu 
perative  attacks.  This  is  Mr.  Seward's  fate,  but 
time  will  dispel  the  falsehoods,  and  render  him  jus 
tice.  Well,  be  it  so. 

Weed  tried  hard  to  bring  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 
over  to  Mr.  Seward ;  but  the  Duke  seems  perfectly 
unmoved  by  the  blandishments,  etc.  To  think  that 
the  strict  and  upright  Duke,  who  knows  Weed,  could 
be  shaken  by  the  ubiquitous  lobbyist !  Eather  the 
other  way. 

One  not  acquainted  with  Mr.  Seward's  ardent  re 
publicanism  may  suspect  him  of  some  dictatorial 
projects,  to  judge  from  the  zeal  with  which  some  of 
the  diplomatic  agents  in  Europe,  together  with  the 
unofficial  ones  there,  extol  to  all  the  world  Mr. 
Seward's  transcendent  superiority  over  all  other 


MAUCH,  1862.J  DIARY.  179 

eminent  men  in  America.  Arc  the  European  states 
men  to  be  prepared  beforehand,  or  arc  they  to  be  be 
fogged  and  prevented  from  judging  for  themselves  ? 
If  so,  again  is  love's  labor  lost.  European  statesmen 
can  perfectly  take  Mr.  Seward's  measure  from  his 
uninterrupted  and  never-fulfilled  prophecies,  and 
from  other  diplomatic  stumblings ;  and  one  look 
sii dices  European  men  of  mark  to  measure  a 
Hughes,  a  Weed,  a  Sandford,  and  tutti  quanti. 

In  Mr.  Lincoln's  councils,  Mr.  Stanton  alone  has 
the  vigor,  the  purity,  and  the  simplicity  of  a  man  of 
deep  convictions.  Stanton  alone  unites  the  clear, 
broad  comprehension  of  the  exigencies  of  tljc  na 
tional  question  with  unyielding  action.  He  is  the 
statesman  so  long  searched  for  by  me.  He,  once  a 
friend  of  McClellan,  was  not  deterred  thereby  from 
condemning  that  do-nothing  strategy,  so  ruinous 
and  so  dishonorable.  Stanton  is  a  Democrat,  and 
therefore  not  intrinsically,  perhaps  not  even  relative 
ly,  an  anti-slavery  man,  but  he  hesitates  not  now  to 
destroy  slavery  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 
I  am  sure  that  every  day  will  make  Stanton  more 
clear-sighted,  and  more  radical  in  the  question  of 
Union  and  rebellion.  And  Seward  and  Blair,  who 
owe  their  position  to  their  anti-slavery  principles, 
arcades  ambo,  try  now  to  save  something  of  slavery, 
and  turn  against  Stanton. 


APKIL,  1862. 

Immense  power  of  the  President  —  Mr.  Seward's  Egeria  —  Programme 
of  peace  —  The  belligerent  question  —  Roebucks  and  Gregories  scums 

—  Running  the  blockade  — Weed  and  Seward  take  clouds  for  camels 

—  Uncle  Sam's  pockets  —Manhood,  not  money,  the  sinews  of  war- 
Colonization  schemes —  Senator  Doolittle —  Coal  mine  speculation  — 
Washington  too  near  the  seat  of  war —  Blair  demands  the  return  of  a 
fugitive  slave  woman—  Slavery  is  Mr.  Lincoln's  "  mammy  "  —Ho  will 
not  destroy  her  — Victories  in  the  W<!St—  The  brave  navy— McClel- 
lan  subsides  in  mud  before  Yorktown  —  Telegraphs  for  more  men- 
God' will  be  tired  out!  —  Great  strength  of  the  people — Emancipa 
tion  in  the  District  —  Wade's  speech  —  He  is  a  monolith  —  Chase  and 
Seward  — N.  Y.  Times  — The  Rothschilds  — Army  movements  and 
plans. 

IF  the  military  conduct  of  McClellan,  from  the 
first  of  January  to  the  day  of  the  embarkation  of 
the  troops  for  Yorktown  —  if  this  conduct  were 
tried  by  French  marshals,  or  by  the  French  chief 
staff,  or  by  the  military  authorities  and  chief  staffs 
of  Prussia,  Russia,  and  even  of  Austria,  McClellan 
would  be  condemned  as  unfit  to  have  any  military 
command  whatever.  I  would  stake  my  right  hand 
on  such  a  verdict;  and  here  the  would-be  strate- 
gians,  the  traitors,  the  intriguers,  and  the  imbeciles 
prize  him  sky-high. 

Only  by  personal  and  close  observation  of  the 
inner  working  of  the  administrative  machinery  is  it 
possible  to  appreciate  and  to  understand  what  an 

180 


APRIL,  1362.]  DIARY.  181 

immense  power  the  Constitution  locates  in  the  hands 
of  a  President.  Far  more  power  has  he  than  any 
constitutional  sovereign  —  more  than  is  the  power  of 
the  English  sovereign  and  of  her  Cabinet  put  to 
gether.  In  the  present  emergencies,  such  a  power 
in  the  hands  of  a  Wade 'or  of  a  Stanton  would  have 
long  ago  saved  the  country. 

Mr.  Seward  looks  to  all  sides  of  the  compass  for  a 
Union  party  in  the  South,  which  may  rise  politically 
against  the  rebels.  That  is  the  advice  of  Weed, 
Mr.  Seward's  Egeria.  I  doubt  that  he  will  find 
many,  or  even  any.  First  kill  the  secesh,  destroy 
the  rebel  power,  that  is,  the  army,  and  then  look 
for  the  Union  men  in  the  South.  Mr.  Seward,  in 
his  generalizations,  in  his  ardent  expectations,  etc., 
etc.,-  forgets  to  consider  —  at  least  a  little  —  human 
nature,  and,  not  to  speak  of  history,  this  terra  incog 
nita.  Blood  shed  for  the  nationality  makes  it  grow 
and  prosper ;  a  protracted  struggle  deepens  its 
roots,  carries  away  the  indifferent,  and  even  those 
who  at  the  start  opposed  the  move.  All  such,  per 
haps,  may  again  fall  off  from  the  current  of  rebel 
lion,  but  that  current  must  first  be  reduced  to  an 
imperceptible  rivulet ;  and  Mr.  Seward,  sustaining 
the  do-nothing  stratcgian,  acts  against  himself. 

Mr.  Seward's  last  programme  is,  after  the  capture 
of  Richmond  and  of  New  Orleans,  to  issue  a  procla 
mation  —  to  offer  terms  to  the  rebels,  to  restore  the 
old  Union  in  full,  to  protect  slavery  and  all.  For 
this  reason  he  supports  McClellan,  as  both  have  the 
same  plan.  Of  such  a  character  are  the  assurances 


182  DIARY.  [ArniL,  1862. 

given  by  Mr.  Seward  to  foreign  diplomats  and  gov 
ernments.  He  tries  to  make  them  sure  that  a  largo 
Union  party  will  soon  be  forthcoming  in  the  South, 
and  again  sounds  his  vaticinations  of  the  sacramen 
tal  ninety  days.  I  am  sorry  for  this  his  incurable 
passion  to  play  the  Pythoness.  It  is  impossible  that 
such  repeated  prophecies  shall  raise  him  high  in  the 
estimation  of  the  European  statesmen.  Impossible  ! 
Impossible !  whatever  may  be  the  contrary  asser 
tions  of  his  adulators,  such  as  an  Adams,  a  Sand- 
ford,  a  Weed,  a  Bigelow,  a  Hughes,  and  others. 
When  Mr.  Seward  proudly  unveiled  this  his  pro 
gramme,  a  foreign  diplomat  suggested  that  the  Con 
gress  may  not  accept  it.  Mr.  Seward  retorted  that 
he  cares  not  for  Congress  ;  that  he  will  appeal  to  the 
people,  who  are  totally  indifferent  to  the  abolition 
of  slavery. 

Why  does  Mr.  Seward  deliberately  slander  the 
American  people,  and  this  before  foreign  diplomats, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  report  all  Mr.  Seward's  words  to 
their  respective  governments  ?  Such  words  uttered 
by  Mr.  Seward  justify  the  assertions  of  Lord  John 
Russell,  of  Gladstone,  those  true  and  high-minded 
friends  of  human  liberty,  that  the  North  fights  for 
empire  and  not  for  a  principle.  The  people  who 
will  answer  to  Mr.  Seward's  appeal  will  be  those 
whose  creed  is  that  of  the  New  York  Herald,  the 
Boston  Courier,  the  people  of  the  Fernando  and 
Ben  Woods,  of  the  Vallandighams,  etc. 

What  is  the  use  of  urging  on  the  foreign  Cab 
inets —  above  all,  England  and  France  —  to  re- 


APRIL,  1862.]  DIARY.  183 

scind  the  recognition  of  belligerents  ?  They  can 
not  do  it.  It  does  not  much  —  nay,  not  any  — 
harm,  as  the  English  speculators  will  risk  to  run 
the  blockade  if  the  rebels  are  belligerent  or  not. 
And  besides,  the  English  and  French  Cabinets  may 
throw  in  Mr.  Scward's  face  the  decisions  of  our  own 
prize  courts,  who,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Seward's 
blockade,  in  their  judicial  decisions,  treat  the  rebels 
as  belligerents.  The  European  statesmen  are  more 
cautious  and  more  consequential  in  their  acts  than 
is  our  Secretary. 

As  it  stands  now,  the  conduct  of  the  English  gov 
ernment  is  very  correct,  and  not  to  be  complained 
of.  I  do  not  speak  of  the  infamous  articles  in  the 
Times,  Herald,  etc.,  or  of  the  Grcgories  and  such 
scums  as  the  Roebucks  ;  but  I  am  satisfied  that  Lord 
John  Russell  wishes  us  no  harm,  and  that  it  is  our 
own  policy  which  confuses  and  makes  suspicious 
such  men  as  Russell,  Gladstone,  and  others  of  the 
better  stamp. 

As  for  tlie  armaments  of  secesh  vessels  in  Liver 
pool  and  the  Bahamas,  it  is  so  perfectly  in  harmony 
with  the  English  mercantile  character  that  it  is  im 
possible  for  the  government  to  stop  it. 

The  English  merchant  generally  considers  it  as  a 
lawful  enterprise  to  run  blockades ;  in  the  present 
case  the  premium  is  immense  ;  it  is  so  in  a  twofold 
manner.  1st,  the  immediate  profits  on  the  various 
cargoes  exchanged  against  each  other  by  a  success 
ful  running  of  the  blockade ;  such  profits  must 
equal  several  hundred  per  cent.  2d,  the  prospec- 


184  DIARY.  [  APBIL,  1862. 

tive  profits  from  an  eventual  success  of  the  rebellion 
for  such  friends  as  are  now  supporting  the  rebels. 
These  prospects  must  be  very  alluring,  and  are 
partly  justified  by  our  slow  war,  slow  policy.  I  am 
sure  that  the  like  armaments  for  the  secessionists 
are  made  by  shares  owned  by  various  individuals ; 
the  individual  risk  of  each  shareholder  being  com 
paratively  insignificant  when  compared  with  the 
prospective  gains. 

If  Seward,  McClellan,  and  Blair  had  not  meddled 
with  Stanton,  not  weakened  his  decisions,  nor  befog 
ged  Mr.  Lincoln,  Richmond  would  be  in  our  hands, 
together  with  Charleston  and  Savannah ;  and  all  the 
iron-clad  vessels  built  in  England  for  secesh  would 
be  harmless. 

Mr.  Weed  and  Mr.  Seward  expect  Jeff.  Davis 
to  be  overthrown  by  their  imaginary  Southern 
Union  party.  0,  wiseacres !  if  both  of  you  had  only 
a  little  knowledge  of  human  nature  —  not  of  that 
one  embodied  in  lobbyists  —  and  of  history,  then 
you  would  be  aware  that  if  Jeff.  Davis  is  to  be  de 
posed  it  will  be  by  one  more  violent  than  he,  and 
you  would  not  speculate  and  take  clouds  for  camels. 
During  the  weeks  of  embarkation  for  Yorktown, 
the  thorough  incapacity  of  McClellan's  chief  of  the 
staff  was  as  brilliant  as  the  cloudless  sun.  It  maizes 
one  shudder  to  think  what  it  will  be  when  the  cam 
paign  will  be  decidedly  and  seriously  going  on. 

It  is  astonishing,  and  psychologically  altogether 
incomprehensible,  to  see  persons,  justly  deserving  to 
be  considered  as  intelligent,  deny  the  evidence  of 


APRIL,  1862.]  DIARY.  J  85 

their  own  senses;  forbid,  so  to  speak,  their  sound 
judgment  to  act ;  to  be  befogged  by  thorough  imbe 
ciles  ;  to  consider  incapacity  as  strategy,  and  to  take 
imbecility  for  deep,  mysterious,  great  combinations 
and  plans.  Even  the  Turks  could  not  long  be  hum 
bugged  in  such  a  way. 

No  sovereign  in  the  world,  not  even  Napoleon  in 
his  palmiest  days,  could  thus  easily  satisfy  his  mili 
tary  whims  concerning  the  most  costly  and  varie 
gated  material  for  an  army,  as  does  McClellan.  He 
changes  his  plans ;  every  such  change  is  gorgeously 
satisfied  and  millions  thrown  away.  Guns,  mortars, 
transports,  spades,  etc.,  appear  at  his  order  as  if 
by  charm ;  and  all  this  to  veil  his  utter  incapacity. 
This  Yorktown  expedition  uncovers  Washington 
and  the  North,  and  such  a  deep  plan  could  have 
been  imagined  only  by  a  strategian. 

"What  are  doing  in  Europe  all  these  various 
agents  of  Mr.  Seward,  and  paid  by  Uncle  Sam  ?  all 
these  Weeds,  Sandfords,  Hughes,  Bigelows,  and  who 
ever  else  may  be  there  ?  They  cannot  find  means 
in  their  brains  to  better  direct,  inform,  or  influence 
the  European  press.  Almost  all  the  articles  in  our 
favor  are  only  defensive  and  explanatory ;  the  offen 
sive  is  altogether  carried  by  the  secesh  press  in  Eng 
land  and  in  France.  But  to  deal  offensive  blows,  our 
agents  would  be  obliged  to  stand  firm  on  human 
principles,  and  show  up  all  the  dastardly  corruption 
of  slavery,  of  slaveholders,  and  of  rebels.  Such  a 
warfare  is  forbidden  by  Mr.  So  ward's  policy ;  and 
perhaps  if  such  a  Weed  should  speak  of  corruption, 


186  DIARY.  [APRIL,  1862. 

some  English  secesh  may  reprint  Wilkeson's  letter. 
In  one  word,  our  cause  in  Europe  is  very  tamely 
represented  and  carried  on.  Members  of  the  Cham 
ber  of  Deputies  in  Paris  complain  that  they  can 
nowhere  find  necessary  information  concerning  cer 
tain  facts.  There  Seward's  agents  have  not  even 
been  able  to  correct  the  fallacies  about  the  epoch  of 
the  Morrill  tariff,  —  fallacies  so  often  invoked  by  the 
secesh  press,  —  and  many  other  similar  statements. 
I  shall  not  wonder  if  the  public  opinion  in  Europe 
by  and  by  may  fall  off -from  our  cause.  Our  de 
fensive  condition  there  justifies  the  assumptions  of 
the  secesh.  As  we  dare  not  expose  their  crimes, 
the  public  in  Europe  must  come  to  this  conclu 
sion,  that  secesh  may  be  right,  and  may  begin  to 
consider  the  North  as  having  no  principle. 

And  to  think  that  all  these  agents  heavily  phle 
botomize  Uncle  Sam's  pockets  to  obtain  such  con 
temptible  results ! 

Many  persons,  some  among  them  of  influence 
and  judgment,  still  speak  and  speculate  upon  what 
they  call  the  starving  of  the  rebellion.  They  calcu 
late  upon  the  comparative  poverty  of  the  rebels, 
repeating  the  fallacious  adage,  that  money  is  the 
sinews  of  war.  Money  is  so,  but  only  in  a  limited 
degree,  and  more  limited  than  is  generally  sup 
posed  ;  more  limited  even  now  when  war  is  a  very 
expensive  pastime. 

This  fallacy,  first  uttered  by  the  aristocrat  Thu- 
cydides,  was  repeated  over  and  over  again  until  it 
became  a  statesmanlike  creed.  But  even  Thucyd- 


APRIL,  1862.]  DIARY.  187 

ides  gave  not  to  that  dictum  such  a  general  sense, 
and  Macchiavelli  scorned  the  fallacy  and  exposed  it. 
When  poor,  the  Spartans  have  been  the  bravest. 
The  historical  halo  surrounding  the  name  of  Sparta 
originated  at  that  epoch  when  the  use  of  money 
and  of  gold  had  been  almost  forbidden.  The  wealth 
of  Athens  began  after  the  victories  over  the  Per 
sians  ;  but  those  victories  were  won  when  the  Athe 
nians  were  comparatively  poor.  So  it  was  with  the 
Romans  until  the  subjugation  of  Carthage,  and  in 
modern  Europe  the  Swiss,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

Manhood  in  a  people,  and  self-sacrifice,  are  the 
genuine  sinews  of  war ;  wealth  alone  saved  no  na 
tion  from  disgrace  and  from  death,  nay,  often  accel 
erated  the  catastrophe. 

The  colonization  of  Africo- Americans  is  still  dis 
cussed;  very  likely  inspired  by  Seward  and  by  his 
Yucatan  schemes.  Senator  Doolittle  runs  himself 
down  at  a  fearful  rate.  I  regret  Doolittle's  mistake. 
Those  colonizers  forget  that  if  they  should  export 
even  100,000  persons  a  year,  an  equal  number  will 
be  yearly  born  at  home,  not  to  speak  of  other  im 
possibilities.  If  carried  on  on  a  small  scale,  this 
scheme  amounts  to  nothing ;  and  on  a  grand  scale 
it  is  altogether  impossible,  besides  being  as  stupid 
as  it  is  recklessly  cruel.  Only  those  persons  insist 
on  colonization  who  hate  or  dread  general  emanci 
pation. 

When  the  slaves  shall  be  emancipated,  then  the 
owners  of  plantations  will  be  forced  to  offer  very 
acceptable  terms  to  the  newly  made  free  laborers  to 


188  DIARY.  [APRIL,  1862. 

have  their  plantations  cultivated,  which  otherwise 
must  become  waste  and  useless  lands,  and  the  plant 
ers  themselves  poor  starving  wretches.  With  very 
little  of  governmental  interference,  the  mutual  rela 
tion  between  planter  and  laborer  can  be  regulated, 
and  the  planter  will  be  the  first  to  oppose  coloniza 
tion. 

Look  from  whatever  side  you  like,  a  colonization 
schemer  is  a  cruel  deceiver,  he  is  an  enemy  of  eman 
cipation,  and  if  he  claims  to  be  an  emancipator  then 
he  is  an  enemy  of  the  planter  and  of  the  prosperity 
of  the  southern  region. 

Besides,  the  present  scheme  of  colonization  to 
Chiriqui  is  an  infamous  speculation  to  help  some 
Ambrosio  Thompson  to  work  coal  mines  in  that 
part  of  Central  America.  That  individual  has  a 
grant  for  some  lands  in  Chiriqui,  and  there  these 
poor  victims  are  to  be  exported.  The  grant  itself 
is  contested  by  the  New  Grenadian  government. 
Those  poor  coolies  will  be  the  prey  of  speculators ; 
there  will  arise  claims  against  the  Grenadian  gov 
ernment  —  a  rich  mine  for  lobbyists  and  claimants. 
Infamy !  and  these  fathers  of  the  country  are  as 
blind  as  moles.  Central  America  is  always  in  con 
vulsions,  and  of  course  the  colonists  will  be  robbed 
by  every  party  of  those  semi-savages.  The  colonists 
being  Methodists,  etc.,  will  be  pointed  out  by  the 
stupid  Catholic  clergy  as  being  heretics  and  mis 
creants. 

Washington's  proximity  to  the  theatre  of  war  in 


APRIL,  1832.]  DIARY.  189 

Virginia  is  the  greatest  impediment  for  rapid  move 
ments  ;  it  is  the  ruin  of  generals  and  of  armies. 

Being  within  reach  of  the  seat  of  government 
and  of  the  material  means,  the  generals  arc*  never 
ready,  but  always  have  something  to  complete, 
something  to  ask  for,  and  so  days  after  days  elapse. 
In  all  other  countries  and  governments  of  the  world 
the  commanders  move  on,  and  the  objects  of  secon 
dary  necessity  are  sent  after  them. 

In  all  other  countries  and  wars  the  principal  aim 
of  commanders  is  to  become  conspicuous  by  rapidity 
of  movements.  The  paramount  glory  is  to  have 
achieved  and  obtained  important  results  with  com 
paratively  limited  means.  Here,  the  greater  the 
slowness  with  which  they  move,  the  greater  captains 
they  are ;  and  the  more  expensive  their  operations, 
the  surer  they  are  of  the  applause  of  the  adminis 
tration,  and  of  a  great  many  f . 

After  all,  the  above  is  the  result  of  pre-existing 
causes.  Slowness,  indecision,  and  waste  of  money, 
are  the  prominent  features  of  this  administration. 

Stanton  excepted,  I  again  think  of  the  dictum  of 
Professor  Steffens,  and  every  day  believe  it  more. 

Mr.  Blair  worse  and  worse ;  is  more  hot  in  sup 
port  of  McClellan,  more  determined  to  upset  Stanton, 
and  I  heard  him  demand  the  return  of  a  poor  fugi 
tive  slave  woman  to  some  of  Blair's  Maryland  friends. 

Every  day  I  am  confirmed  in  my  creed  that  who 
ever  had  slavery  for  mammy  is  never  serious  in  the 
effort  to  destroy  it.  "Whatever  such  men  as  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  Mr.  Blair  will  do  against  slavery,  will 


190  DIARY.  [APRIL,  1862. 

never  be  radical  by  their  own  choice  or  conviction, 
but  will  be  done  reluctantly,  and  when  under  the 
unavoidable  pressure  of  events. 

Mr.  Seward  restive  and  bitter  against  all  who 
criticise.  Mr.-  Seward  assumes  that  everybody  does 
his  best,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  applauded. 
But  Mr.  Seward  forgets  the  proverb  about  hell 
being  paved  with  good  intentions.  In  this  terrible 
emergency  the  people  want  men  who  really  do  the 
best,  and  not  those  who  only  try  and  intend  to  do  it. 

McClellan  had  the  full  sway  so  long  —  appointed 
so  many,  perhaps  more  than  sixty,  brigadier  generals 
—  that  it  is  not  astonishing  when  those  appointees 
prefer  rather  not  to  see  for  themselves,  but  blindly 
"  hurrah  "  for  their  creator. 

Victories  in  the  West,  triumphantly  establishing 
the  superiority  of  our  soldiers  in  open  battle-fields, 
and  the  superiority  of  all  generals  who  are  distant 
from  any  contact  with  Washington,  as  Pope,  Grant, 
Curtis,  Mitchell,  Sigel,  and  others.  The  brave 
navy,  —  this  pure  democratic  element  which  assures 
the  greatest  results,  and  makes  the  less  laudatory 
noise.  The  navy* is  admirable;  the  navy  is  the 
purest  and  most  glorious  child  of  the  people. 

The  destruction  of  the  rebellion  saves  the  future 
generations  of  the  Southern  whites.  Secession 
would  for  centuries  have  bred  and  raised  only  formi 
dable  social  hyenas. 

McClellan  subsided  in  mud  before  Yorktown. 
Any  other,  only  even  half-way,  military  capacity 
commanding  such  forces  would  have  made  a  lunch 


APRIL,  1862.]  DIARY.  191 

of  Yorktown.  But  our  troops  are  to  dig,  perhaps 
their  graves,  to  the  full  satisfaction  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
Mr.  Seward,  and  Mr.  Blair. 

McClcllan  telegraphs  for  more  men,  and  he  has 
more  already  than  he  can  put  in  action,'  and  more 
than  he  has  room  for.  He  subsides  in  digging. 
The  rebels  will  again  fool  him  as  they  fooled  him 
in  Manassas.  If  McClcllan  could  know  anything, 
then  he  would  know  this  —  that  nothing  is  so  des 
tructive  to  an  army  as  sieges,  as  diggings,  and 
camps,  and  nothing  more  disciplines  and  re-invigo 
rates  men,  makes  them  true  soldiers,  than  does 
marching  and  fighting.  Poor  Stanton  !  how  he  must 
suffer  to  be  overruled  by  imbeciles  and  intriguers. 
McClellan  telegraphing  for  reinforcements  plainly 
shows  how  unniilitary  are  his  brains.  lie  and  a 
great  many  here  believe  that  the  greater  the  mass  of 
troops,  the  surer  the  victory.  History  mostly  teach 
es  the  contrary ;  but  speak  to  American  wiseacres 
about  history !  He,  McClellan,  and  others  on  his 
side,  ignore  the  difficulty  of  handling  or  swinging  an 
army  of  100,000  men. 

A  good  general,  confident  in  his  troops,  will  not 
hesitate  to  fight  two  to  three.  But  McClellan  feels 
at  ease  when  he  can,  at  the  least,  have  two  to  one. 
In  Manassas  he  had  three  to  one,  and  conquered  — 
wooden  guns !  We  will  see  what  he  will  conquer 
before  Yorktown. 

Louis  Napoleon  always  well  disposed,  but  of 
course  he  cannot  swallow  Mr.  Se ward's  demand 
about  belligerents.  I  am  so  glad  and  so  proud  that 


192  DIARY.  [APRIL,  1862. 

up  to  this  day  events  justify  my  conscience  in  the 
French  policy,  although  our  policy  may  tire  not  only 
Louis  Napoleon,  but  tire  the  God  whom  we  worship 
and  invoke.  I  should  not  wonder  if  God,  tired  by 
such  McClellans,  Lincolns,  Sewards,  Blairs,  etc., 
finally  gives  us  the  cold  shoulder.  This  demand 
concerning  belligerents  is  a  diplomatic  and  initiative 
step  made  by  Mr.  Seward  ;  it  is  unsuccessful,  as  are 
all  his  initiatives,  and  no  wonder. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  incited  by  Mr.  Seward  and  by  Mr. 
Blair,  overrules  the  opinion  of  the  purest,  the  ablest, 
and  the  most  patriotic  men  in  Congress  —  that  of 
Stanton,  and  of  the  few  good  generals  unbefogged 
by  McClellanism.  Such  a  power  as  the  Constitution 
gives  to  a  President  is  the  salvation  of  the  people 
when  in  the  hands  of  a  Jackson,  but  when  in  the 
hands  of  a  Lincoln, !  i 

The  muscular  strength  of  the  American  people, 
and  the  strength  of  its  backbone,  beat  all  the  Her- 
culeses  and  Atlases  supporting  the  globe.  Any 
other  people  would  have  long  ago  broke  down  under 
the  policy  and  the  combined  weight  of  Lincoln,  Sew 
ard,  and  McClellan. 

Mr.  Lincoln  is  forced  out  again  from  one  of  his 
pro-slavery  entrenchments  ;  he  was  obliged  to  yield, 
and  to  sign  the  hard-fought  bill  for  emancipation  in 
the  District  of  Columbia ;  but  how  reluctantly,  with 
what  bad  grace  he  signed  it !  Good  boy  ;  he  wishes 
not  to  strike  his  mammy;  and  to  think  that  the 
friends  of  humanity  in  Europe  will  credit  this 
emancipation  not  where  it  is  due,  not  to  the  noble 


APRIL,  1862.]  DIARY.  193 

pressure  exercised  by  the  high-minded  Northern 
masses,  but  to  this  Kentucky . 

Senator  Wade  made  a  powerful  speech  in  relation 
to  the  arrest  of  General  Stone.  It  was  powerful, 
patriotic,  and  rises  to  the  skies  over  the  Lilliputian 
oratory  of  the  thus-called  scholars,  etc.  "Wade  is  a 
monolith,  —  he  is  cut  out  full  in  a  rock. 

It  seems  that  the  new  law  increasing  the  number 
of  judges  for  the  Supreme  Court  weakened  many 
backbones.  Congress  ought  to  have  added  the 
clause  that  a  senator  can  be  nominated  only  after 
six  years  from  the  day  of  the  promulgation. 

Mr.  Scward  again  chalked  before  the  dazzled  eyes 
of  foreign  powers  Certain  future  military  opera 
tions  ;  but  again  events  have  been  so  impolite  as  to 
upturn  Mr.  Seward's  prophecies. 

The  report  of  the  Senate  committee  on  the  de 
struction  of  Norfolk  speaks  of  the  "  insane  delu 
sion  "  of  the  administration.  I  am  proud  to  have 
considered  it  in  the  same  light  about  a  year  ago. 

Mr.  Thouvenel  politely  but  logically  refuses  to 
acquiesce  in  Mr.  Seward's  demand  concerning  the 
belligerents.  Thouvcnel's  reasons  arc  plausible. 
The  support  given  to  strategy  by  Mr.  Seward, — 
that  support  does  more  mischief  to  us  than  do  all  the 
pirates  and  all  the  violations  of  blockade.  Let  us 
take  Richmond, —  a  thing  impossible  with  McClellan, 

—  and  take  by  land  Charleston,  Savannah,  etc.;  then 
the  pirates  and  belligerents  are  strangulated.     And 

—  as  says  Gen.  Sherman  —  Savannah  and  Charles 
ton    could  have   been  taken  several  months   ago. 


194  DIARY.  [APRIL,  1362. 

Orders  from  Washington  forbade  to  do  it ;  and  it 
would  be  curious  to  ascertain  how  far  Mr.  Seward 
is  innocent  in  the  perpetration  of  these  orders. 

Chase  and  Seward  dear-dearing  each  other! 
Amusing  !  Kilkenny  cats  !  At  this  game  Seward 
will  have  the  best  of  Chase,  who  is  not  a  match  for 
tricks. 

The  New  York  Times  attacks  Capt.  Dahlgren,  of 
the  Navy  Yard.  It  is  in  the  nature  of  the  "  little 
villain  "  to  bespatter  men  of  such  devotion,  patriot 
ism,  and  eminent  capacity  as  is  Captain  Dahlgren. 

Thurlow  Weed  calls  the  Tribune  "  infernal,"  be 
cause  it  wishes  a  serious  war,  and  thus  prevents  the 
raising  of  a  Union  party  in  thp  South,  so  flippantly 
looked  for  by  him  and  Mr.  Seward,  his  pupil.  I  see 
the  time  coming  when  all  these  gentlemen  of  the 
concessions,  of  the  not-hurting  policy,  —  when  all 
these  conservative  seekers  for  the  Union  party  will 
try,  Pilatus-like,  to  wash  their  hands  of  the  innocent 
blood  ;  but  you  shall  try,  and  not  succeed,  to  white 
wash  your  stained  hands  ;  you  have  less  excuses  on 
your  side  than  had  the  Roman  proconsul  on  his  side. 

When  Mr.  Mercier  was  in  Richmond,  some  of  the 
rebel  leaders  and  generals  told  him  that  they  be 
lieved  not  their  senses  on  learning  that  McClellan 
was  going  to  Yorktown ;  that  he  never  could  have 
selected  a  better  place  for  them,  and  that  they  were 
sure  of  his  destruction  on  the  Peninsula. 

Perhaps  McClellan  wished  to  try  his  hand  and  re 
hearse  the  siege  of  Sebastopol. 

If  McClellan' s  ignorance  of  military  history  were 


APRIL,  1862.]  DIARY.  195 

not  so  well  established,  he  would  know  that  since 
Archimedes,  down  to  Todlebcn,  more  genius  was 
displayed  in  the  defence  than  in  the  attack  of  any 
place.  The  making  of  approaches, '  parallels,  etc., 
is  an  affair  of  engineering  school  routine.  Napo 
leon  took  Toulon  rather  as  an  artillerist,  who,  having, 
calculated  the  reach  of  projectiles,  put  his  battery 
on  a  spot  wherefrom  he  shelled  Toulon.  Napoleon 
took  Mantua  by  destroying  the  Austrian  army  which 
hastened  to  the  relief  of  the  fortress.  But  the  great 
American  strategian  knows  better,  and  satisfies  (as 
said  above)  the  rebels. 

The  New  York  Herald,  the  New  York  Times,  and 
other  staunch  supporters  of  McClellan,  again  and 
again  trumpet  that  the  rebels  fear  McClellan,  that 
they  consider  him  to  be  the  ablest  general  opposed 
to  them.  The  rebels  are  smart,  and  so  is  their  ally, 
the  New  York  Herald.  As  for  the  Times,  it  is  only 
a  flunkeying  "  little  villain." 

McDowell,  Banks,  Fremont  have  about  70,000 
men  ;  the  last  two  are  nearly  at  the  head  of  the 
Shenandoah  valley  ;  they  could  unite  with  McDow 
ell,  and  march  and  take  Richniond.  They  beg  to 
be  ordered  to  do  it,  and  so  wishes  Stanton ;  but, 
fatally  befogged  by  McClellan,  by  McClcllan's  clique 
in  the  councils,  or  by  strategians,  Lincoln  emphati 
cally  forbids  any  junction,  any  movement ;  the 
President  forbids  McDowell  to  take  Frcdericksburg, 
or  to  throw  a  bridge  across  the  river.  And  thus 
McClellan  prevents  any  glorious  military  operation  ; 
is  losing  in  the  nmd  a  hundred  men  daily  by  disease, 


196  DIARY.  [APBii,,  1563. 

and  Mr.  Lincoln  —  still  infatuated.  But  infatua 
tion  is  the  disease  of  small  and  weak  brains. 

Rothschild  in  Paris,  and  very  likely  the  Roths 
childs  in  London,  are  for  the  North.  But  if  the 
Rothschilds  show  that  they  well  understand  and 
respect  the  Old  Testament,  whose  spirit  is  anti- 
slavery,  they  show  they  understand  better  the  true 
Christian  spirit  than  do  the  Christians.  The  Roths 
childs  show  themselves  more  thoroughly  of  our  cen 
tury  than  are  such  Michel  Chevaliers,  or  such  im 
pure  Roebucks,  and  all  the  supporters  of  free  trade 
in  human  flesh. 

McClellan's  supporters,  and  such  strategians  as 
Blair  and  Seward,  assert  that  McClellan's  plan  was 
ruined  by  not  sending  McDowell  to  Gloucester ; 
that  then  the  whole  rebel  army  would  have  been 
caught  in  a  trap.  That  silly  plan  to  go  to  the  Pe 
ninsula  is  defended  in  a  still  more  silly  way. 

By  McDowell's  going  to  Gloucester,  Washington 
would  have  been  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  an  army 
of  thirty  to  forty  thousand  men  ;  the  celebrated 
defences  of  Washington,  this  result  of  the  united 
wisdom  of  Scott  and  McClellan,  facilitating  to  the 
rebel  army  a  raid  on  Washington. 

Farther ;  McClellan,  in  concocting  and  maturing' 
his  thus  called  plans,  probably  believes  that  the 
rebels  will  do  just  the  thing  which,  in  his  calcula 
tions,  he  wishes  them  to  do ;  and  such  erroneous 
suppositions  arc  the  sole  basis  of  his  plans.  But 
th^  rebels  repeatedly  showed  themselves  by  far  too 
smart  for  his  Napoleonic  brains ;  and  besides,  not 


APRIL,  1862.]  DIART.  197 

much  -wit  to  the  rebel  generals  was  necessary  to  see 
through  and  through  what  the  great  Napoleon  was 
about,  by  ordering  McDowell  to  Gloucester.  Of 
course,  the  rebel  generals  would  not  have  had  the 
politeness  towards  McClellan  to  sheepishly  accede 
to  his  wishes,  and  go  into  the  trap.  The  whole  plan 
was  worse  than  childish,  and  I  am  glad  to  barn 
that  several  generals  showed  brains  to  condemn  it. 
The  whole  plan  was  up  to  the  comprehension  of  Mc- 
Clcllanitcs,  of  consummate  stratcgians  in  McClcl- 
lan's  official  tross,  for  those  in  the  Cabinet  and  out 
of  it. 

Would  God  that  all  this  ends  not  in  disasters. 
If  ii  ends  well  it  will  be  the  first  time  success  has 
crowned  such  transcendent  incapacity. 


MAY,  1862. 

Capture  of  New  Orleans  —  The  second  siege  of  Troy  —  Mr.  Seward  lights 
his  lantern  to  search  for  the  Union-saving  party— Subserviency  to 
power  —  Vitality  of  the  people  —  Yorktown  evacuated  —  Battle  of 
Williamsburg  —  Great  bayonet  charge!  — Heintzclman  and  Hooker 

—  McClcllan  telegraphs  that  the  enemy  outnumber  him  —  The  terri 
ble  enemy  evacuate  "VVilliamsburg  —  The  track  of  truth  begins  to  be 
lost  —  Oh  Napoleon !  —  Oh  spirit  of  Berthier  !  —  Dayton  not  in  favor 

—  Events  are  too  rapid  for  Lincoln  —  His  integrity  —  Too  tender  of 
men's  feelings  —  Halleck  —  Ten  thousand  men  disabled  by  disease  — 
The  Bishop  of  Orleans  —  The  rebels  retreat  without  the  knowledge 
of  McNapoleon  — Hunter's  proclamation  —  Too  noble  for  Mr.  Lincoln 

—  McClellan  again  subsides  in  mud  —  Jackson  defeats  Banks,  who 
makes  a  masterly  retreat  —  Bravo,  Banks  !  —  The  aulic  council  fright 
ened  —  Gov.  Andrew's  letter  —  Sigel  —  English  opinion  —  Mr.  Mill  — 
Young  Europa  — Young  Germany  — Corinth  evacuated  —  Oh,  gener 
alship  !  —  McDowell  grimly  persecuted  by  bad  luck. 

THE  capture  of  New  Orleans.  The  undaunted 
bravery  of  the  Navy  —  this  most  beautiful  leaf  in 
the  American  history.  The  Navy  fights '  without 
talk  and  strategy,  because  it  does  not  look  to  win 
the  track  to  the  White  House.  The  capture  of  New 
Orleans  may  lead  the  rebels  to  evacuate  Yorktown 
and  to  fool  the  great  strategian. 

It  is  a  very  threatening  symptom,  that  no  genuine 
harmony  —  nay,  no  sympathy  —  exists  between  the 
best,  the  purest,  the  most  intelligent,  the  most  ener 
getic  members  of  both  the  Houses  of  Congress  and 

198 


MAY,  1862.]  DIARY.  199 

the  President,  including  the  leading  spirit  of  his 
Cabinet.  The  New  York  Herald  is  the  principal 
supporter  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward ;  in  the 
Congress  their  supporters  are  the  Democrats,  and 
all  those  who  wish  to  make  concessions  to  the  South, 
who  ardently  wish  to  preserve  slavery,  and  in  any 
way  to  patch  up  the  quarrel. 

In  times  as  trying  as  are  the  present  ones,  such  a 
shameful  and  dangerous  anomaly  must,  in  the  long 
run,  destroy  either  the  government  or  the  nation. 
If  it  turns  out  differently  here,  the  exclusive  reason 
thereof  will  be  the  great  vitality  of  the  people.  All 
the  deep  and  dangerous  wounds  inflicted  by  the  pol 
icy  of  the  administration  will  be  healed  by  the  vig 
orous,  vital  energy  of  the  people. 

"  For  Heaven's  sake  finish  quick  your  war  ! " 
Such  are  the  exclamations  —  nay,  the  prayers  — 
coming  from  the  French  statesmen,  as  Fould  and 
others,  from  our  devoted  friends,  as  Prince  Napo 
leon,  and  from  all  the  famishing,  but  nevertheless 
nobly-behaving,  operatives  in  England.  And  here 
McClellan  inaugurates  before  Yorktown  a  second 
siege  of  Troy  or  of  Sebastopol ;  Lincoln  forbids  tho 
junction  of  McDowell  with  Banks  and  Fremont,  by 
which  Richmond  could  be  easily  taken  from  the 
west  side,  where  it  ought  to  be  attacked  ;  and  Mr. 
Seward  reads  the  like  dispatches  and  backs  McClcl- 
lan ;  Mr.  S.  lights  his  lantern  in  search  North  and 
South  of  the  Union-saving  party  ! 

Speak  to  me  of  subserviency  to  power  by  Euro 
pean  aristocrats,  courtiers,  etc. !  What  almost 


200  DIARY.  [MAT,  1862. 

every  day  I  witness  here  of  subserviency  of  influen 
tial  men  to  the  favored  and  office-distributing  power, 
all  things  compared  and  considered,  beats  whatever 
I  saw  in  Europe,  even  in  Russia  at  the  Nicolean 
epoch. 

General  Cameron,  in  his  farewell  speech,  said 
that  at  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war  General  Scott 
told  him,  Cameron,  that  he,  Scott,  never  in  his  life 
was  more  pained  than  when  a  Virginian  reminded 
him  of  his  paramount  duties  to  his  State.  I  take 
note  of  this  declaration,  as  it  corroborates  what  a 
year  ago  I  said  in  this  diary  concerning  the  disas 
trous  hesitations  of  General  Scott. 

It  is  said  that  Turtschininoff  is  all  in  all  in  Gen 
eral  Mitchell's  command.  Turtschininoff  is  a  gen 
uine  and  distinguished  officer  of  the  staff,  and  edu 
cated  in  that  speciality  so  wholly  unknown  to  West- 
Pointers.  Several  among  the  foreigners  in  the 
army  are  thoroughly  educated  officers  of  the  staff, 
and  would  be  of  great  use  if  employed  in  the 
proper  place.  But  envy  and  know-nothingism  are 
doubly  in  their  way.  Besides,  the  foreign  officers 
have  no  tenderness  for  the  Southern  cause  and 
Southern  chivalry,  and  would  be  in  the  cause  with 
their  whole  heart. 

By  the  insinuations  of  an  anonymous  correspon 
dent  in  the  Tribune,  Mr.  Seward  tries  to  re-estab 
lish  his  anti-slavery  reputation.  But  how  is  it  that 
foreign  diplomats,  that  the  purest  of  his  former 
political  friends,  consider  him  to  be  now  the  savior 
of  what  he  once  persecuted  in  his  speeches  ? 


MAT,  1862.}  DIARY.  201 

At  every  step  this  noble  people  vindicates  and 
asserts  the  vitality  of  self-government,  continually 
jeopardized  by  the  inexhaustible  errors  of  the  policy 
followed  by  the  master-spirits  in  the  administration. 
European  doctors,  prophets,  vindictive  enemies  like 
the  London  Times,  the  Saturday  Review,  etc.,  and 
the  French  journals  of  the  police,  all  of  them  are 
daily  —  nay,  hourly  —  baffled  in  their  expectations 
—  paper  money  and  no  bankruptcy,  no  inflation, 
bonds  equal  to  gold,  etc.,  etc.  And  all  this,  not 
because  there  is  any  great  or  even  small  statesman 
or  financier  at  the  head  of  the  administration,  but 
because  the  people  at  large  have  confidence  in  them 
selves,  in  their  own  energies ;  because  they  have 
the  determination  to  succeed,  and  not  to  be  bank 
rupt  ;  not  to  discredit  their  own  decisions.  All 
these  phenomena,  so  new  in  the  history  of  nations, 
are  incomprehensible  to  European  wiseacres ;  they 
are  too  much  for  the  hatred  and  dulness  of  the 
Europeans  in  France,  England,  and  for  that  of  the 
many  Europeans  here. 

Yorktown  evacuated !  —  under  the  nose  of  an 
army  of  160,000  men,  and  within  the  distance  of  a 
rifle  shot!  —  evacuated  quietly,  of  course,  during 
several  days.  One  cannot  abstain  from  saying 
Bravo !  to  the  rebel  generals.  Their  high  capacity 
forces  the  mind  to  an  involuntary  applause.  Trai 
tors,  intriguers,  and  imbeciles  applaud,  extol  the 
results  of  the  bloodless  strategy.  McClellan  is  used 
by  the  rebels  only  to  be  fooled  by  them.  It  must  be 
so.  It  is  one  proof  more  of  the  transcendent  capacity 


202  DIARY.  [MAT,  1863. 

H 

of  the  strategian,  and,  above  all,  of  the  capacity  and 
efficiency  of  the  chief  of  the  staff  of  the  great  army. 
Such  an  operation  as  that  of  Yorktown,  anywhere 
else,  would  be  considered  as  the  highest  disgrace ; 
here,  glorifications  of  strategy.  McClellan's  bulle 
tins  from  Yorktown  describe  the  rebel  fortifications 
as  being  almost  impregnable.  Of  course  impregna 
ble  !  but  only  to  him. 

Battle  at  Williamsburg ;  and  McClellan  and  his 
so  perfect  staff  altogether  ignorant  of  the  whole 
bloody  but  honorable  affair  as  fought  against  terrible 
odds  by  Heintzelman  and  Hooker;  but  the  great 
Napoleon's  bulletin  mentions  a  real — Oh  hear! 
hear  the  great  Mars!  —  charge  with  the  bayonet, 
made  at  the  other  extremity  of  Williamsburg,  and 
in  which  from  twenty  to  forty  men  were  killed ! 

Heintzelman's  and  Hooker's  personal  conduct, 
and  that  of  their  troops,  was  heroic  beyond  name. 
McClellan  ignored  the  battle ;  ignored  what  was 
going  on,  and,  as  it  is  said,  gave  orders  to  Sumner 
not  to  support  Heintzelman. 

McClellan  telegraphs  that  the  enemy  far  outnum 
bers  him  (fears  count  doubly),  but  that  he  will 
do  his  utmost  and  his  best.  This  Napoleon  of  the 
New  York  Herald's  manufacture  in  everything  is 
the  reverse  of  all  the  leaders  and  captains  known 
in  history  :  all  of  them,  when  before  the  battle 
they  addressed  their  soldiers,  represented  the  enemy 
as  inferior  and  contemptible ;  after  the  battle  was 
won,  the  enemy  was  extolled. 

From  the  first  of  his  addresses  to  this  his  last  dis- 


MAT,  1962.]  DIARY.  203 

patch  from  Williamsburg,  McClellan  always  speaks 
of  the  terrible  enemy  whom  he  is  to  encounter ;  and 
in  this  last  dispatch  he  tries  to  frighten  not  only  his 
army,  but  the  whole  country.  During  the  night  the 
terrible  enemy  evacuated  Williamsburg ;  McClellan 
breathes  more  free,  takes  fresh  courage,  and  his  bul 
letin  estimates  the  enemy's  forces  at  50,000. 

The  track  of  truth  begins  to  be  lost.  By  compar 
ing  dates,  bulletins,  and  notes,  it  results  that  at  the 
precise  minute  when  McClellan  telegraphed  his  wail 
conc3rning  the  large  numbers  of  the  enemy  and  the 
formidable  fortifications  of  Williamsburg,  the  rebels 
were  evacuating  them,  pressed  and  expelled  there 
from  by  Hooker,  Kearney,  and  Ilcintzelman.  Oh 
Napoleon  !  Oh  spirits  not  only  of  Berthier  and  of 
Gneisenau,  but  of  the  most  insignificant  chiefs  of 
staffs,  admire  your  caricature  at  the  head  of  the 
army  commanded  by  this  freshly-backed  Napoleon  ! 

A  foreign  diplomat  was  in  McClellan' s  tent  before 
Yorktown,  on  the  eve  of  the  day  when  the  rebels 
wholly  evacuated  it.  One  of  McClellan's  aids  sug 
gested  to  the  general  that  the  comparative  silence 
of  the  rebel  artillery  might  forebode  evacuation. 
"  Impossible  !  "  answered  the  New  York  Herald's 
Napoleon.  "  I  know  everything  that  passes  in  their 
camp,  and  I  have  them  fast."  (I  have  these  details 
from  the  above-mentioned  diplomat.)  In  the  same 
minute,  when  the  strategian  spoke  in  this  way,  at 
least  half  of  the  rebel  army  had  already  withdrawn 
from  Yorktown.  Comments  thereupon  are  super 
fluous. 


204  D  I  A  E  Y.  [MAT,  1862. 

Dayton,  from  Paris,  very  sensibly  objects  to  the  pol 
icy  of  insisting  that  England  and  France  shall  annul 
their  decision  concerning  the  belligerents.  Dayton 
considers  such  a  demand  to  be,  for  various  reasons, 
out  of  season.  I  am  sure  that  Dayton  is  respected 
by  Louis  Napoleon  and  by  Thouvenel  on  account  of 
his  sound  sense  and  rectitude,  although  he  parleys 
not  French.  Dayton  must  impress  everybody  differ 
ently  from  that  French  parleying  claims'  prosecutor 
and  itinerant  agent  of  a  sewing  machine,  who  break 
fasts  in  Brussels  with  Leopold,  and  the  same  day 
dines  in  Paris  with  Thouvenel,  and  may  take  his 
supper  in  h — 1,  so  far  as  the  interest  of  the  cause  is 
concerned.  But  Dayton  seems  not  to  be  in  favor 
with  the  department. 

The  admirers  of  McClellan  assert  that  one  parallel 
digged  by  him  was  sufficient  to  frighten  the  rebels 
and  force  them  to  evacuate.  Good  for  what  it  is 
worth  for  such  mighty  ignorant  brains.  The  mor 
tars,  the  hundred-pounders,  frightened  the  rebels ; 
they  break  down  not  before  parallels,  strategy,  or 
Napoleon,  but  before  the  intellectual  superiority  of 
the  North,  in  the  present  case  embodied  in  mortars 
and  other  armaments. 

Following  the  retreating  enemy,  McClellan  loses 
more  prisoners  than  he  makes  from  the  enemy.  A 
new  and  perfectly  original,  perfectly  sui  generis 
mode  of  warfare,  but  altogether  in  harmony  with  all 
the  other  martial  performances  of  the  pet  of  the 
New  York  Herald,  of  Messrs.  Seward  and  Blair,  and 
of  the  whole  herd  of  intriguers  and  imbeciles. 


MAT,  1862  ]  DIARY.  205 

People  who  approach  him  say  that  Mr.  Lincoln's 
conceit  groweth  every  day.  I  guess  that  Seward 
carefully  nurses  the  weed  as  the  easiest  way  to  domi 
nate  over  and  to  handle  a  feeble  mind. 

Since  Mr.  Mercier  judges  by  his  own  eyes,  and 
not  by  those  of  former  various  Washington  associa 
tions,  his  inborn  soundness  and  perspicacity  have  the 
upper  hand.  He  is  impartial  and  just  to  both  par 
ties  ;  he  is  not  bound  to  have  against  the  rebels  feel 
ings  akin  to  mine,  but  he  is  well  disposed,  and 
wishes  for  the  success  of  the  Union. 

The  events  are  too  grand  and  too  rapid  for 
Lincoln.  It  is  impossible  for  him  to  grasp  and  to 
comprehend  them.  I  do  not  know  any  past  histori 
cal  personality  fully  adequate  to  such  a  task.  Hap 
pily  in  this  occurrency,  the  many,  the  people  at 
large,  by  its  grasp  and  forwardness,  supplies  and 
neutralizes  the  inefficiency  or  the  tergiversations, 
intrigues  and  double-dealings  of  the  few,  of  the 
official  leaders,  advisers,  etc. 

I  willingly  concede  to  Mr.  Lincoln  all  the  best  and 
most  variegated  mental  and  intellectual  qualities,  all 
the  virtues  as  claimed  for  him  by  his  eulogists  and 
friends.  I  would  wish  to  believe,  as  they  do,  Mr. 
Lincoln  to  be  infallible  and  impeccable.  But  all 
those  qualities  and  virtues  represented  to  form  the 
residue  of  his  character,  all  shining  when  in  private 
life,  some  way  or  other  are  transformed  from  posi 
tives  into  negatives,  since  Mr.  Lincoln's  contact  with 
the  pulsations  and  the  hurricane  of  public  life. 
Thus  Mr.  Lincoln's  friends  assert  that  all  his  efforts 


206  DIARY.  [MAT,  1862. 

tend  to  conciliate  parties  and  even  individuals. 
This  candor  was  beneficial  and  efficient  in  the  court 
or  bar-rooms,  or  around  a  supper  table  in  Springfield. 
It  was  even  more  so,  perhaps,  when  seasoned  with 
stories  more  or  less  *  *  .  *  But  one  who  tries 
to  conciliate  between  two  antipodic  principles,  or 
between  pure  and  impure  characters,  unavoidably 
must  dodge  the  principal  points  at  issue.  Such  is 
the  stern  law  of  logic.  Who  dodges,  who  biasses, 
unavoidably  deviates  from  that  straight  and  direct 
way  at  the  end  of  which  dwells  truth.  Further: 
feeble,  expcctative  and  vacillating  minds,  deprived 
of  the  faculty  to  embrace  in  all  its  depth  and  exten 
sion  the  task  before  them, —  such  minds  cannot  have 
a  clear  purpose,  nor  the  firm  perception  of  ways  and 
means  leading  to  the  aim,  and  still  less  have  they  the 
sternness  of  conviction  so  necessary  for  men  dealing 
with  such  mighty  events,  on  which  depend  the  life 
and  death  of  a  society.  Such  men  hesitate,  post 
pone,  bias  and  deviate  from  the  straight  way.  Such 
men  believe  themselves  in  the  way  to  truth,  when 
they  are  aside  of  it.  It  results  therefrom,  that  when 
certain  amiable  qualities,  such  as  conciliation,  a  lit 
tle  dodging,  hesitation,  etc.,  are  practised  in  private 
life  and  in  a  very  restrained  area,  their  deviations 
from  truth  are  altogether  imperceptible,  and  they  are 
then  positive  good  qualities,  nay,  virtues.  But  such 
qualities,  transported  and  put  into  daily  friction  with 
the  tempestuous  atmosphere  of  human  events,  lose 
their  ingenuousness,  their  innocence,  their  good-na- 


MAT,  1862.]  DIARY.  207 

turcdness  ;  the  imperceptibility  of  their  intrinsic  de 
viation  becomes  transparent  and  of  gigantic  dimen 
sions. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  crystal-pure  integrity  prevented  not 
the  most  frightful  dilapidation,  nay,  robbing  of  the 
treasury  by  contractors,  etc.,  etc.  Nor  has  it  kept 
pure  his  official  household.  His  friend  Lamon  and 
the  to-be-formed  regiments  ;  the  splendid  equipages 
and  coupes  of  his  youthful  secretaries,  to  be  sure, 
came  not  from  Springfield,  etc.,  etc.,  nor  sees  he 
through  the  rascally  scheme  of  the  Chiriqui  coloni 
zation. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  his  friends  assert,  does  not  wish  to 
hurt  the  feelings  of  any  one  with  whom  he  has  to 
deal.  Exceedingly  amiable  quality  in  a  private  in 
dividual,  but  at  times  turning  almost  to  be  a  vice  in 
a  man  entrusted  with  the  destinies  of  a  nation.  So 
he  never  could  decide  to  hurt  the  feelings  of  Mc- 
Clcllan,  and  this  after  all  the  numerous  proofs  of  his 
incapacity.  But  Mr.  Lincoln  hurts  thereby,  and  in 
the  most  sensible  manner,  the  interests,  nay,  the 
lives,  of  the  twenty  millions  of  people.  I  am  sure 
that  McClellan  may  lose  the  whole  army,  and  why 
not  if  he  continues  as  he  began  ?  and  Mr.  Lincoln 
will  support  and  keep  him,  as  to  act  otherwise 
would  hurt  McClellan's,  Marcy's,  Seward's,  and  per 
haps  Blair's  feelings. 

Finally,  Mr.  Lincoln,  advised,  they  say,  by  Mr. 
Seward,  holds  in  contempt  public  opinion  as  man 
ifested  by  the  press,  with  the  exception  of  the  in 
cense  burnt  to  him  by  the  New  York  Herald.  If 


208  DIARY.  [MAT,  1862. 

this  is  true,  Mr.  Lincoln's  mind  is  cunningly  be 
fogged. 

It  is  very  soothing  for  the  quiet  of  private  life 
to  ignore  newspapers ;  but  all  over  Europe  men  in 
power,  sovereigns  and  ministers,  carefully  and  daily 
study  and  watch  the  opinions  of  the  newspapers, 
and  principally  of  those  which  oppose  and  criticise 
them. 

Such,  Mr.  Lincoln,  is  the  wisdom  of  the  truly  ex 
perienced  statesman.  Better  ask  Louis  Napoleon 
than  Seward. 

I  am  astonished  that  concerning  Mexico  Louis 
Napoleon  was  taken  in  by  Almonte.  Experience 
ought  to  have  fully  made  him  familiar  with  the 
general  policy  of  political  refugees.  This  policy 
was,  is,  and  will  be  always  based  on  imaginary  facts. 

Political  refugees  befog  themselves  and  befog 

others.  And  this  Mr.  de  Saligny  must  be  a  d ; 

Louis  Napoleon  ought  to  expel  him  from  the  service. 

Halleck  likewise  seems  to  lay  the  track  to  the 
White  House.  Nothing  has  been  done  since  he 
took  the  command  in  person.  Halleck,  as  does  also 
McClellan,  tries  to  make  all  his  measures  so  sure, 
so  perfect,  that  he  misses  his  aim,  and  becomes 
fooled  by  the  enemy.  In  war,  as  in  anything  else, 
after  having  quickly  prepared  and  taken  measures, 
a  man  ought  to  act,  and  rely  as  much  as  possible  on 
fortune — that  is,  on  his  own  acuteness  —  how  to 
cut  the  knot  when  he  meets  it  in  his  path. 

Halleck  before  Corinth,  and  McClellan  before 
Manassas  and  Yorktown,  both  spend  by  far  more 


MAY,  1882.]  DIARY.  209 

time  than  it  took  Napoleon  from  Boulogne  and  Bre- 
tagnc  to  march  into  the  heart  of  Germany,  surround 
and  capture  Mack  at  Ulm,  and  come  in  view  of  Vi 
enna. 

The  French  and  English  naval  officers  in  the  Mis 
sissippi  assured  our  commanders  that  it  was  impos 
sible  to  overcome  the  various  defences  erected  by  the 
rebels.  Our  men  gave  the  lie  to  those  envious  fore 
bodings.  McClellan,  in  a  dispatch,  assures  the  Sec 
retary  of  War  that  he,  McClellan,  will  take  care  of 
the  gunboats.  Risum  tenealis. 

The  most  contemptible  flunkeys  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  are  the  wiseacres,  and  the  thus-called  framers 
of  public  opinion.  Until  yet  McClellan,  literally, 
has  not  stood  by  when  a  cartridge  was  burned,  and 
they  sing  hosanna  for  him. 

Ten  thousand  men  have  been  disabled  by  diseases 
before  Yorktown ;  add  to  it  the  several  thousands 
in  a  similar  way  disabled  in  the  camp  before  Manas- 
sas,  and  it  makes  more  than  would  have  cost  two 
battles,  fought  between  the  Rappahannock  and  Rich 
mond,  —  battles  which  must  have  settled  the  ques 
tion. 

Although  ultra-Montane,  the  Bishop  of  Orleans 
nobly  condemns-  slavery.  The  Bishop's  pastoral  is 
an  answer  to  H.  E.,  Archbishop  of  New  York. 
The  French  bishop  therein  is  true  to  the  spirit  of 
the  Catholic  church.  The  Irish  archbishop,  com 
pared  to  him,  appears  a  dabbler  in  Romanism. 

During  the  administration  of  Pierce  and  of  Bu 
chanan,  the  Democratic  senators  ruled  over  the  Pres- 

14 


210  DIARY.  IMAT,1862. 

ident  and  the  Cabinet.  Perhaps  it  is  not  as  it  ought 
to  be ;  but  for  the  salvation  of  the  country  it  were 
desirable  that  a  curb  be  puj;  on  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Sew- 
ard,  Mr.  Blair,  by  the  Republican  senators,  by  men 
like  Wade,  Wilson,  Chandler,  Grimes,  Fessenden, 
Hale,  and  others. 

The  retreat  of  the  rebels  was  masterly  conducted, 
and  their  pursuit  by  McClellan  has  no  name.  No 
where  has  this  Napoleon  got  at  them.  The  affair  at 
Williamsburg  was  bravely  done  by  Heintzelman  and 
Hooker ;  but  it  was  done  without  the  knowledge  of 
-McNapoleon,  and  contrary  to  his  expectations  and 
strategy.  This  he  confesses  in  one  of  his  masterly 
bulletins.  Perhaps  McNapoleon  ignored  Heintzel- 
man's  corps'  heroic  actions,  because  neither  Heint 
zelman,  nor  Hooker,  nor  Kearney  worship  strategy, 
and  the  deep,  well-matured  plans  of  Me. 

General  Hunter's  proclamation  in  South  Carolina 
is  the  greatest  social  act  in  the  course  of  this  war. 
How  pale  and  insignificant  are  Mr.  Lincoln's  disqui 
sitions  aside  of  that  proclamation,  which  is  greeted 
in  heaven  by  angels  and  cherubim  —  provided  they 
are  a  reality. 

Of  course  Mr.  Lincoln  overrules  General  Hun 
ter's  proclamation.  It  is  too  human,  too  noble,  too 
great,  for  the  tall  Kentuckian.  Many  say  that  Sew- 
ard,  Blair,  Seaton  from  the  Intelligencer,  and  other 
Border  State  patriots,  pressed  upon  Lincoln.  I  am 
sure  that  it  gave  them  very  little  trouble  to  put  Mr. 
Lincoln  straight with  slaveocracy.  Hence- 


MAT,  1862.]  DIARY.  211 

forth  every  Northern  man  dying  in  the  South  is  to 
be  credited  to  Mr.  Lincoln  ! 

Mr.  Lincoln  again  publishes  a  disquisition,  and 
points  to  the  signs  of  the  times.  Bnt  does  Mr.  Lin 
coln  perceive  other,  more  awful,  signs  of  the  times  ? 
Does  he  see  the  bloody  handwriting  on  the  wall, 
condemning  his  unnatural,  vacillating,  dodging  pol 
icy? 

All  things  considered,  it  will  not  be  astonishing 
in  Europe  if  they  lose  patience  and  sneer  at  the 
North,  when  they  learn  that  McClellan  is  continually 
doing  strategy ;  when  they  will  read  his  bulletins ; 
when  they  will  find  out  that  from  West  Point  to 
Richmond  he  pursued  the  enemy  at  the  enormous 
speed  of  two  miles  a  day,  —  and  that  of  course 
nobody  was  hurt,  —  and  finally,  that,  surrounded 
by  a  brilliant  and  costly  staff,  he  was  ignorant  of 
the  condition  of  the  roads,  and  of  the  existence  of 
marshes  and  swamps  into  which  he  plunged  the 
army. 

The  President  repeatedly  speaks  of  his  strong  will 
to  restore  the  Union.  Very  well ;  but  why  not  use 
for  it  the  best,  the  most  decided,  and  the  most  thor 
ough  means  and  measures  ? 

Continually  I  meet  numbers  and  numbers  of  sol 
diers  who  are  discharged  because  disabled  in  the 
camps  during  winter.  Thus  McClellan's  bloodless 
strategy  deprived  several  thousands  of  their  health, 
without  in  the  least  hurting  the  enemy.  And  daily 
I  meet  numbers  of  able-bodied  Africo- Americans, 
who  would  make  excellent  soldiers.  I  decided  to 


212  DIARY.  [MAT,  1862. 

try  to  form  a  regiment  of  the  Africo-Americans, 
and,  after  whipping  the  F.  F.  V.'s,  establish,  beyond 
doubt,  the  perfect  equality  of  the  thus  called  races. 

McClellan  subsides  in  mud,  —  digs,  —  and  the 
sick  list  of  the  army  increases  hourly  at  a  fearful 
ratio.  And  McClellan  refuses  to  slaves  admittance 
within  his  lines.  If,  at  least,  McClellan  was  a  fight 
ing  general ;  but  a  mud-mole  as  he . 

Any  other  general  in  any  other  country,  in  Asia,  in 
Africa,  etc.,  would  use  any  elements  whatever  within 
his  grasp,  by  using  which  he  could  strengthen  his 
own  and  weaken  the  enemy's  resources.  McNapo- 
leon  knows  better ! 

One  of  the  best  diplomatic  documents  by  Mr. 
Seward  is  that  on  Mexico  ;  and  so  is  also  the  policy 
pursued  by  him.  Why  does  Mr.  Seward  dabble  in 
war  and  strategy  at  home  ? 

McClellan  digs,  and  by  his  wailings  has  disorgan 
ized  the  corps  of  McDowell,  and  of  Banks,  who  re 
treats  and  is  pressed  by  Jackson.  The  men  who 
advised,  or  the  McClellan  worshippers  who  pre 
vented  the  union  of  McDowell  with  Banks  and  Fre 
mont,- are  as  criminal  as  any  one  can  be  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  councils. 

Now  Jackson  is  reorganized ;  he  penetrated  be 
tween  Fremont  and  Banks,  who  were  sorely  weak 
ened  by  transferring  continually  divisions  from  one 
to  another  army,  and  this  between  the  Chickahom- 
iny  and  the  lower  Shenandoah. 

New  diplomatic  initiative  by  Mr.  Seward.  France 
and  England  are  requested  to  declare  to  the  rebels 


MAT,  1862.]  DIARY.  213 

that  they  have  no  support  to  expect  from  the  above- 
mentioned  powers. 

This  initiative  would  be  splendid  if  it  could  suc 
ceed  ;  but  it  cannot,  and  for  the  same  logical  rea 
sons  as  failed  the  recent  initiative  about  belligerents. 
Such  unsuccessful  initiatives  are  lowering  the  con 
sideration  of  that  statesman  who  makes  them.  Such 
failures  show  a  want  of  diplomatic  and  statesman 
like  perspicacity. 

The  nation  is  assured  by  Mr.  Lincoln  and  by  Mr. 
Seward  that  a  perfect  harmony  prevails  in  the  Cabi 
net..  Beautiful  if  true. 

General  Banks  attacked  by  Jackson  and  defeated ; 
but,  although  surrounded,  makes  a  masterly  retreat, 
without  even  being  considerably  worsted.  Bravo, 
Banks !  Such  retreats  do  as  much  honor  to  a  gen 
eral  as  a  won  battle. 

This  bold  raid  of  Jackson  —  a  genuine  general 
—  wholly  disorganized  that  army  which,  if  united 
weeks  ago,  could  have  taken  Richmond,  and  ren 
dered  Jackson's  brilliant  dash  impossible.  The  mil 
itary  aulic  council  of  the  President  is  frightened  out 
of  its  senses,  and  asks  the  people  for  100,000  de 
fenders.  General  Wadsworth  advised  not  to  thus, 
witho  it  any  necessity,  frighten  the  country. 

On  this  occasion  Governor  Andrew,  of  Massachu 
setts,  wrote  a  scorching  letter  to  the  administration 
on  account  of  General  Hunter's  proclamation.  Gov 
ernor  Andrew  always  acts,  speaks,  and  writes  to  the 
point. 

This  alarming  appeal,  so  promptly  responded  to, 


214  DIARY.  [MAY,  1862, 

has  its  good,  as  it  will  show  to  Europe  the  un tired 
determination  of  the  free  States. 

The  President  took  it  into  his  head  to  direct  him 
self,  by  telegraph,  the  military  operations  from  Fred- 
ericksburg  to  Shenandoah.  The  country  sees  with 
what  results.  The  military  advisers  of  the  Presi 
dent  seem  no  better  than  are  his  civil  advisers  — 
Seward,  Blair,  etc.  If  the  President  earnestly  wishes 
to  use  his  right  as  Commander-in-Chief,  then  he  had 
better  take  in  person  the  command  of  the  army  of 
the  Potomac. 

There  McClellan's  diggings  and  strategy  neutral 
ize  the  gallantry  of  the  generals  and  of  the  troops. 
There  action,  not  digging,  is  needed.  I  wrote  to 
the  President;  suggesting  to  make  Sigel  his  chief  of 
the  staff  (Sigel  has  been  educated  for  it),  and  then 
to  let  our  generals. fight  under  his,  the  President's, 
eyes. 

Great  injustice  was  and  is  done  to  Mr.  Seward  by 
the  lying  and  very  extensively  spread  rumor  that  he 
is  often  intoxicated.  I  am  sure  that  it  is  not  so,  and 
I  contradict  it  with  all  my  might.  At  last  I  discov 
ered  the  reason  of  the  rumor.  It  is  Mr.  Seward's 
unhappy  passion  for  generalizations.  He  goes  off 
like  a  rocket.  Most  people  hearing  him  become 
confused,  understand  nothing,  are  unable  to  follow 
him  in  his  soarings,  and  believe  him  to  be  intoxi 
cated.  His  devotees  alone  get  in  ecstacies  when 
these  rockets  fly. 

Every  time  after  any  success  of  our  troops,  that 
perfidious  sheet,  the  London  Times,  puts  on  inno- 


MAT,  1862.]  DIARY.  215 

cent  airs,  and  asks,  "  Why  are  the  Americans  so 
bitter  against  England  ?  "  Why  ?  At  every  disas 
ter  the  Times  pours  upon  the  North  the  most  mali 
cious,  poisonous,  and  lacerating  derisions  ;  derisions 
to  pierce  the  skin  of  a  rhinoceros.  When  in  that 
strain  no  feeling  is  respected  by  this  lying  paper. 

Derision  of  the  North  was  the  Times's  order  of 
the  day  even  before  the  civil  war  really  began. 
People,  who  probably  have  it  from  the  fountain  it 
self,  assert  that  in  one  of  his  hours  of  whiskey  ex 
pansion  the  great  Russell  let  the  cat  out,  and  con 
fessed  that  the  Times's  firm  purpose  was,  and  is,  to 
definitely  break  the  Union. 

Until  this  hour  that  reptile's  efforts  have  been  un 
successful  ;  it  could  not  even  bring  the  Cabinet 
over  to  its  heinous  purposes.  A  counterpoise  and  a 
counter  poison  exist  in  England's  higher  spheres, 
and  I  credit  it  to  that  noblest  woman  the  queen,  to 
Earl  Russell,  and  to  some  few  others. 

The  would-be  English  noblesse,  the  Tories,  and  all 
the  like  genuine  nobodies,  or  ivould-be  somebodies, 
affect  to  side  with  the  South.  They  are  welcome 
to  such  an  alliance,  and  even  parentage.  Similis 
simili  gaudet.  Nobody  with  his  senses  considers  the 
like  gentlemen  as  representing  the  progressive,  hu 
mane,  and  enlightened  part  of  the  English  nation ; 
the  American  people  may  look  down  upon  their 
snobbish  hostility.  J.  S.  Mill  —  not  to  speak  of  his 
followers  —  has  declared  for  the  cause  of  the  North. 
His  intellectual  support  more  than  gorgeously  com 
pensates  the  cause  of  right  and  of  freedom,  even 


216  DIARY.  [MAT,  1862. 

for  the  loss  or  for  the  sneers  of  the  whole  aristoc 
racy,  and  of  snobdom,  of  somebodies  and  of  would- 
be  gentlemen  of  the  whole  Britannia  Empire,  in 
cluding  the  Canadian  beggarly  manikins. 

By  their  arrogance  the  Englishmen  are  offensive 
to  all  the  nations  of  the  world ;  but  they  are  still 
more  so  by  their  ingrained  snobbyism.  (See  about 
it  Hugo  Grotius.)  Further  :  During  the  last  thirty 
years  the  London  Times  and  the  Lord  Fussmaker 
Palmer ston  have  done  more  to  make  us  hate  Eng 
land  than  even  did  the  certain  inborn  and  not  over- 
amiable  traits  in  the  English  character. 

A  part  of  the  young  foreign  diplomacy  here  have 
a  very  strong  secesh  bend  ;  they  consider  the  slave 
holders  to  be  aristocrats,  and  thus  like  to  acquire 
an  aristocratic  perfume.  But,  aristocratically  speak 
ing,  most  of  this  promiscuous  young  Europa  are 
parvenus,  and  the  few  titled  among  them  have 
heraldically  no  noble  blood  in  their  veins.  No  won 
der  that  here  they  mistake  monstrosities  for  real 
noblesse.  Enthusiastic  is  young  Germany  —  that 
is,  young  Bremen. 

Young  European  Spain  here  is  remarkably  dis 
creet,  as  in  the  times  of  a  Philip  II.,  of  an  Alba. 

Corinth  evacuated  under  the  nose  of  Halleck,  as 
Manassas  and  Yorktown  have  been  evacuated  under 
the  nose  of  McClellan.  Nay,  Halleck,  equally  strong 
as  was  the  enemy,  the  first  day  of  the  evacuation 
ignores  what  became  of  Beauregard  with  between 
sixty  and  eighty  thousand  men.  Oh  generalship! 
Gen.  Halbck  is  a  gift  from  Gen.  Scott.  If  Halleck 


MAT,  18G2.]  DIARY.  217 

makes  not  something  better,  it  will  turn  out  to  be  a 
very  poor  gift.  Timco  Danaos,  etc.,  concerning  the 
North  and  the  gifts  from  "  the  highest  military  au 
thority  in  the  land" 

McDowell  is  grimly  persecuted  by  badjuck.  Since 
March,  twice  he  organized  an  excellent  and  strong 
corps,  with  which  he  could  have  marched  on  Rich 
mond,  and  both  times  his  corps  was  wholly  disor 
ganized  —  first  by  McClcllan's  wails  for  more,  the 
second  time  by  the  President  and  his  aulic  council. 
And  now  all  the  ignorance  and  stupidity,  together 
with  all  the  McClellanites,  accuse  McDowell.  Pity 
that  he  was  so  near  Washington  ;  otherwise  his  mis 
fortune  could  not  have  so  thoroughly  occurred. 


JUNE,  1862. 

Diplomatic  circulars  seasoned  by  stories  —  Battle  before  Richmond  — 
Casey's  division  disgraced — McClellan  afterwards  confesses  he 
was  misinformed  —  Fair  Oaks  —  "  Nobody  is  hurt,  only  the  bleeding 
people  "  —  Fremont  disobeys  orders  — N.  Y.  Times,  World,  and  Her 
ald,  opinion-poisoning  sheets  —  Napoleon  never  visible  before  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  —  Hooker  and  the  other  fighters  soldered 
to  the  mud  —  Senator  Stimner  shows  the  practical  side  of  his  intel 
lect—  "  Slavery  a  big  job!  "  —  McClellan  sends  for  mortars  —  Defend 
ers  of  slavery  in  Congress  worse  than  the  rebels — Wooden  guns 
and  cotton  sentries  at  Corinth  —  The  navy  is  glorious  —  Brave  old 
Gideon  Welles  !  —  July  4th  to  be  celebrated  in  Richmond !  —  Coloni 
zation  again  —  Justice  to  France  —  New  regiments—  The  people  sub 
lime  !  —  Congress  —  Lincoln  visits  Scott  —  McDowell  —  Pope  —  Dis 
loyalty  in  the  departments. 

MB.  SEWARD  takes  off  from  Mr.  Adams  the  gag  on 
the  question  of  slavery.  Perhaps  even  Mr.  Adams 
might  have  been  a  little  fretting.  A  long  specula 
tive  dispatch,  wherein,  among  some  good  things,  one 
finds  some  generalizations  and  misstatements  con 
cerning  the  distress  in  Ireland,  generated  by  want 
of  potatoes  (vide  Parl.  Be.),  and  not  from  want  of 
cotton,  as  says  Mr.  Seward  — •  a  confession  that  the 
government  "  covers  the  weakness  of  the  insur 
gents  "  and  "  takes  care  of  the  welfare  of  the  insur 
gents."  What  a  tenderness,  and  what  an  ingrati 
tude  of  the  rebels  to  acknowledge  it  by  blows  I 

213 


JUXE,  1862.]  DIARY.  219 

Another  confession,  more  precious,  that  the  poor 
slaves  are  the  best  and  the  only  bravely  devoted 
Union  men  in  the  South,  although  occasionally  shot 
for  their  devotion  by  our  generals,  expelled  from 
the  lines  (vide  Halleck's  order  No.  8),  and  deliv 
ered  to  the  tender  mercies  of  their  masters.  Finally, 
immediate  emancipation  is  held  before  the  eyes 
of  the  English  statesmen  rather  as  a  Medusa  head ; 
then  a  kind  of  story  —  perhaps  to  please  Mr.  Lin 
coln  —  or  quotation  from  some  writer,  etc.  So  far 
as  I  recollect,  it  is  for  the  first  time  that  diplomatic 
circulars  arc  seasoned  by  stories.  But,  dit  moi  qui 
tu  hante  je  te  dirai  qui  til  es. 

Mr.  So  ward  repeatedly  asserts,  in  writing  and  in 
words,  that  he  has  no  eventual  views  towards  the 
White  House.  "Well,  it  may  be  so  or  not.  But  if 
his  friends  may  succeed  in  carrying  his  nomination, 
then,  of  course,  reluctantly, Hie  will  bend  his  head 
to  the  people's  will,  and  —  accept.  When  in  past 
centuries  abbots  and  bishops  were  elected,  they 
reluctantly  accepted  fat  abbeys  and  bishoprics ;  the 
investiture  was  given  in  the  sacramental  words, 
accipe  onus  pro  peccatis. 

A  battle  by  Richmond.  McClellan  telegraphs  a 
victory,  and  it  comes  out  that  we  lost  men,  positions, 
camps,  and  artillery.  The  President  patiently  bears 
such  humbugging,  and  the  country  —  submits. 

McClellan  disgraces  a  part  of  the  brave  General 
Casey's  division.  Whatever  might  have  been  the 
conduct  of  the  soldiers  in  detail,  one  .thing  is  cer- 
Aain,  that  the  division  was  composed  of  rough  levies ; 


220  D I  A  B  Y.  [JUNE,  1862. 

that  they  fought  three  hours,  being  almost  sur 
rounded  by  overwhelming  forces;  that  they  kept 
ground  until  reinforcements  came ;  that  the  break 
ing  of  the  division  cannot  be  true,  or  was  only  par 
tial,  and  that  McClellan  was  not  at  all  on  the 
ground. 

This  battle  of  Fair  Oaks  is  another  evidence  of 
the  transcendent  incapacity  of  the  chief  of  the  staff 
of  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  and  of  Gen.  McClel 
lan' s  veracity.  In  a  subsequent  bulletin  the  general 
confesses  that  he  was  misinformed  concerning  the 
conduct  of  Gen.  Casey's  division. 

In  any  other  army  in  the  world,  a  chief  of  the 
staff  who  would  assign  to  a  division  a  post  so  ad 
vanced,  so  isolated,  so  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the 
army,  as  was  Gen.  Casey's  position,  —  such  a  chief 
of  the  staff  would  be  at  once  dismissed.  Here,  oh 
here,  nobody  is  hurt,  nobody  is  to  be  hurt  —  only 
the  bleeding  people. 

As  to  the  conduct  of  the  soldiers,  they  fought 
well ;  thorough  veterans  scarcely  could  have  behaved 
better.  McCleUan  turns  out  worse  even  than  I  ex 
pected.  9 

The  President's  campaign  against  Jackson  —  very 
unsuccessful.  Fremont  came  not  up  to  the  mark ; 
disobeyed  orders.  No  excuse  whatever  for  such  dis 
obedience. 

One  is  at  a  loss  which  is  to  be  more  admired,  the 
ignorance  or  the  impudence  of  such  opinion-confus 
ing  and  opinion-poisoning  sheets  as  the  New  York 
Times,  the  World,  the  Herald,  etc.  They  sing  ho- 


Jtmz,  1862.]  DIARY.  22f 

sanna  for  McClellan's  victories.  In  advance  they 
praise  the  to-be-fought  battles  on  selected  fields  of 
battle,  and  after  the  plans  have  been  matured  for 
weeks,  nay  for  months.  • 

A  plan  of  a  whole  campaign,  a  general  survey 
of  it,  may  be  prepared  and  matured  long  before  the 
campaign  begins.  But  to  mature  for  weeks  a  plan 
of  a  battle  !  All  the  genuine  great  captains  seldom 
had  the  selection  of  a  field  of  battle,  as  they  rapidly 
moved  in  search  of  or  to  meet  their  enemies,  and 
fought  them  where  they  found  them.  For  the  same 
reason,  they  scarcely  had  more  than  forty-eight 
hours  to  mature  their  plans.  Such  is  the  history 
and  the  character  of  nine-tenths  of  the  great  battles 
fought  in  the  world. 

When  Napoleon  overthrew  Prussia  and  Austria, 
he  beforehand  prepared  those  campaigns  ;  but 
neither  Jena,  Eylau,  Friedland,  Austerlitz  or 
Wagrani  were  the  fields  of  battle  of  his  special 
choice.  But  Napoleon  moved  his  armies  as  did  all 
the  great  captains  before  him,  and  as  must  do  all 
great  captains  after  him.  Only  American  great  cap 
tains  sit  down  in  the  mud  and  dig. 

At  times  in  the  West,  Pope,  Mitchell,  Nelson, 
Grant  moved  their  forces,  and  beat  the  enemy.  I 
am  sure  that  these  brave  generals  and  the  braves 
of  the  army  of  the  Potomac  most  certainly  are 
early  risers.  A  certain  Napoleon  never  is  visible 
before  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning.  So  I  hear  from 
a  French  officer  who  is  not  in  the  service,  but  fol 
lows  the  movements  of  the  Potomac  army. 


*222  DIARY.  [JUNE,  1862. 

In  McClellan's  army  Heintzelman,  Hooker,  Kear 
ney,  Sumner,  and  many  others,  would  move  quick, 
would  fight  and  beat ;  but  a  leaden  weight  presses, 
and  solders  them  to  the  mud.  I  must  write  an  arti 
cle  to  the  press  concerning  the  rapidity  of  move 
ments, —  this  golden  rule  for  any  conduct  of  a  war. 

Since  he  was  in  the  field,  McNapoleon  neither 
planned  nor  assisted  in  person  in  any  encounter. 
When  are  his  great  plans  to  burst  out  ? 

In  one  of  his  recently  published  dispatches,  Mr. 
Seward  makes  an  awful  mistake  in  trying  to  estab 
lish  the  difference  between  a  revolution  and  a 
civil  war,  as  to  their  respective  relations  to  foreign 
interference  and  support.  A  little  knowledge  of 
history,  and  a  less  presumption,  would  have  spared 
to  him  such  an  exposure.  A  revolution  in  a  nation 
can  be  effected,  and  generally  is  effected,  without  a 
foreign  intervention,  and  without  even  an  appeal 
to  it.  Most  of  the  civil  wars  look  to  foreign  help. 
So  teaches  history,  whatever  may  be  Mr.  Seward's 
contrary  generalizations. 

Mr.  Seward  is  unrelenting  in  his  efforts  to  build 
up  the  Union-saving  slavery  party,  and  is  sure,  as 
he  says,  to  be  able  to  manage  the  Republicans,  in 
and  out  of  Congress.  We  shall  see. 

Senator  Sumner  very  well  discusses  the  tax-bill, 
and  again  shows  the  practical  side  of  his  intellect. 
Sumner  proves  that  a  laborious  intellect  can  grasp 
and  master  the  most  complicated  matters.  If  Sum 
ner  could  only  have  more  experience  of  men  and 
things,  he  would  not  be  so  Germanly — naive. 


JUNE,  1862.]  DIARY.  223 

Mr.  Seward  triumphantly  publishes  the  Turkish 
hatti,  by  which  pirates  are  excluded  from  the  Otto 
man  ports.  Oh,  Jemine  !  to  be  patronized  by  the 
Turks !  Misfortune  brings  one  with  strange  bed 
fellows. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  organization  of  slaves  at 
Beaufort,  Mr.  Lincoln  exclaimed,  "  Slavery  is  a  big 
job,  and  will  smother  us  ! "  It  will,  if  dealt  with  in 
your  way,  Mr.  President. 

McClellan  sends  for  mortars  and  hundred-pound 
ers  ;  these  monsters  are  to  fight,  but  not  he.  Well, 
even  so,  if  possible. 

The  Southern  leaders  send  to  Europe  officers  of 
artillery  to  buy  arms  and  ammunition,  and  are  well 
served.  Our  good  administration  sends  speculators, 
railroad  engineers,  agents  of  sewing  machines,  and 
the  arms  bought  by  them  kill  our  own  soldiers,  and 
not  the  enemies. 

English  papers  taunt  the  Americans  that  in  one 
hundred  years  the  country  must  become  a  mon 
archy.  The  Americans  have  now  a  foretaste  of 
some  among  the  features  of  monarchy,  among  oth 
ers  of  favoritism.  The  Pompadours  and  the  Du- 
barrys  could  not  have  sustained  a  McClellan  at  the 
cost  of  so  many  lives  and  so  many  millions.  Then 
the  dabbling  in  war,  and  other  etc.'s,  performed  in 
the  most  approved  Louis  XIV.'s  or  Nicolean  style. 

Worse  than  the  rebels,  and  by  far  more  abject 
and  degraded,  arc  the  defenders  of  slavery,  of  trea 
son,  and  of  rebellion  in  the  Congress,  in  the  press, 


224  DIARY.  f JUICE,  1862. 

and  in  the  public  opinion.  No  gallows  high  enough 
for  them. 

McClellan  crowds  the  marshes  with  heavy  artil 
lery,  and  may  easily  lose  them  at  the  smallest  disas 
ter.  His  army  is  overburdened  with  artillery  in  a 
country  where  the  moving  of  guns  must  be  exceed 
ingly  difficult,  nay,  often  impossible.  And  then  the 
difficulty  of  having  such  a  large  number  of  men 
drilled  for  the  service  of  guns.  Scarcely  any  army 
in  Europe  possesses  artillerists  in  such  numbers  as 
are  now  required  here.  Few  guns  well  served  make 
more  execution  than  large  numbers  of  them  fired 
at  random. 

Instead  of  concentrating  his  army  and  attacking 
at  once  the  rebels  in  Richmond,  McClellan  extends 
his  army  over  nearly  sixty  miles  !  To  keep  such  an 
extensive  line  more  than  300,000  would  be  required. 
Oh,  heavens !  this  man  is  more  ignorant  of  warfare 
than  his  worst  enemies  have  suspected  him. 

It  is  reported  that  at  Corinth  the  rebels  had  not 
only  wooden  guns,  but  cotton  manikins  as  sentries. 
God  grant  it  may  not  be  true,  as  it  would  make  the 
slow,  pedantic  Halleck  even  below  McClellan. 

The  future  historian  will  be  amazed,  bewildered, 
nay,  he  may  lose  his  senses,  discovering  the  heaps 
of  confusion  and  of  ignorance  which  caused  tho 
disasters  of  Banks,  the  escape  of  Jackson,  etc.,  etc. 

It  is  impossible  to  resist  the  admiration  inspired 
by  the  skill,  tho  daring,  the  fertility  of  intellectual 
resources  displayed  by  the  rebels ;  all  this  is  so  thor- 


JUNE,  1862.]  DIARY.  225 

oughly  contrasted  by  what  is  done  by  our  legal 
chiefs. 

Pity  that  such  manhood  is  shown  in  the  defence 
of  the  most  infamous  cause  ever  known  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  world.  To  conquer  an  independence 
with  the  sole  object  to  procreate,  to  breed,  to  traffic 
in,  and  to  whip  slaves  ! 

The  navy  is  glorious  everywhere,  and  not  fussy. 
The  people  can  never  sufficiently  remunerate  the 
navy,  if  patriotic  services  are  to  be  remunerated. 
The  same  would  be  with  the  army  but  for  the  Napo- 
Icons ! 

The  published  correspondence  between  the  rebels 
Rust  and  Hunter  fully  justifies  my  confidence  in 
Louis  Napoleon's  sound  judgment.  That  publica 
tion  clearly  establishes  how  the  press  here  is  wholly 
unable  to  conceive  or  to  comprehend  the  policy  of 
the  great  European  nations.  The  press  heaps  out 
rages  and  nurses  suspicions  against  Napoleon.  The 
Santlfords  and  others  knowingly  stir  up  suspi 
cions  to  make  believe  that  their  smartness  averts 
the  evil.  Poor  chaps !  When  great  interests  are 
at  stake,  neither  their  fuss,  nor  any  dispatch,  how 
ever  elaborate,  can  exercise  a  shadow  of  influence. 

It  seems  that  a  Babylonian  confusion  prevails  in 
the  movements,  in  the  distribution,  and  in  the  com 
bination  of  the  various  parts  of  the  army  under 
McClellan.  I  should  wonder  if  it  were  otherwise, 
with  such  a  general  and  supported  by  such  a  chief 
of  the  staff. 

Brave  old  Gideon  Welles  (Neptune)  instructing 

15 


226  DIARY.  [JUNE,  1862. 

his  sailors  to  fight,  and  not  to  calculate,  and  "  not  to 
deliver  anybody  against  his  personal  wish." 

These  imbecile  reporters  and  letter-writers  for 
the  press,  and  other  sensationists,  make  me  enraged 
with  their  sneers  at  the  poverty  of  the  rebels.  If  so, 
the  more  heroism.  They  forget  the  "  beggars  "  of 
the  Dutch  insurrection  against  Philip  II. 

The  cat  is  out,  and  I  am  sorry  for  it.  The  world 
is  informed  that  the  revolution  is  finished,  and  now 
the  civil  war  begins.  Oh  generalizer!  oh  philoso 
pher  of  history !  oh  prophet  as  to  the  speedy  end  of 
the  civil  war  !  Oh  stop,  oh  stop  !  Not  by  digging 
will  your  pet  McClellan  bring  the  war  to  a  speedy 
close. 

I  am  often  enraged  against  myself  not  to  be  able 
to  admire  Mr.  Seward,  and  to  be  obliged  to  judge  his 
whole  policy  in  such,  perhaps  too  severe,  a  manner. 
What  can  I  do,  what  can  I  do  ?  No  one,  not  even 
Gen.  Scott  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  since  January,  1861,  has 
exercised  an  influence  equal  to  Mr.  Seward's  on 
the  affairs  of  the  country,  and  amicus  Plato,  etc., 
sei  magis  arnica  veritas. 

Mr.  Seward  believes  that  July  4th  will  be  cele 
brated  by  us  in  Richmond.  He  and  McClellan 
spread  this  hope ;  Doolfttle  believes  it.  We  could 
be  in  Richmond  any  day  under  any  other  general, 
not  a  Napoleon ;  we  may  never  be  there  if  led  on  by 
McClellan,  inspired  by  Mr.  Seward's  policy. 

The  French  amateur  in  McClellan's  army  is  dis 
gusted  with  McNapoleon,  and  speaks  with  contempt 
of  the  reckless  waste  of  men,  of  material,  etc.  He 


Juins,  1862.]  DIARY.  227 

calls  it  cruel,  brainless,  and  uses  a  great  many  other 
exclamations. 

The  healthful  activity  of  Stanton,  his  broad  and 
clear  perception  of  almost  all  exigencies  of  these 
critical  times,  are  continually  baffled  and  neutral 
ized  by  the  allied  McClellan,  Blair,  Seward,  New 
York  Times  and  New  York  Herald.  Such  an  alli 
ance  can  easily  confuse  even  the  strongest  brains. 

The  colonization  again  on  the  tapis,  and  all  the 
wonted  display  of  ignorance,  stupidity,  ill-will,  and 
pharisceism  towards  genuine  liberty. 

Seward  gave  up  his  Yucatan  scheme.  Chiriqui 
has  the  lead.  And  finally,  some  foreign  diplomats 
try  to  make  conspicuous  their  little  royalties.  So 
Denmark  tries  to  cultivate  the  barren  rocks  of  St. 
Thomas  with  the  poor  captives.  It  will  be  a  new 
kind  of  apprenticeship  under  cruel  masters.  I  hear 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  is  caught  in  the  trap,  and  that  a 
convention  ad  hoc  is  soon  to  be  concluded.  This 
time,  at  least,  Mr.  Seward's  name  will  remain 
outside. 

I  am  uneasy,  fearing  we  may  commit  some  spread- 
eagleism  towards  France  during  this  present  Mexi 
can  imbroglio.  I  will  do  my  utmost  to  explain  to 
influential  senators  the  truth  concerning  Louis  Na 
poleon's  political  conduct  towards  the  North,  the 
absurdity  of  any  hostile  demonstration  against 
France,  and  the  dirt  constituting  the  sub-stratum  of 
the  new  Mexican  treaty. 

"  French  policy  may  change  towards  us,"  say  the 


228  DIARY.  [Jtms,  1862. 

anti-Napoleons ;  "  Louis  Napoleon  will  unmask  his 
diplomatic  batteries,"  etc.,  etc. 

Well,  Louis  Napoleon  may  change  when  he  finds 
that  we  are  incorrigible  imbeciles,  and  that  the 
great  interests,  which  to  defend  is  his  duty,  are 
jeopardized  ;  but  not  before.  As  for  masked  batte 
ries,  I  considered  worse  than  fools  all  those  who 
believed  in  masked  batteries  at  Manassas;  and  in 
the  same  light  I  consider -all  the  believers  in  diplo 
matic  masked  batteries.  I  was  not  afraid  of  the  one, 
and  am  not  of  the  other. 

Not  one  single  French  vessel  has  run,  or  attempt 
ed  to  run,  the  blockade  ;  not  one  has  left  the  ports 
of  Franco,  or  of  the  French  \Vest  Indies,  loaded  with 
arms  or  ammunition  for  the  insurgents.  As  for  the 
barking  of  French  papers,  or  of  some  second  or 
third  rate  saloons,  barkings  thus  magnified  by  Amer 
ican  letter-writers,  I  know  too  much  of  Paris  and  of 
society  to  take  notice  of  it.  I  am  sure  that  the 
whole  rebel  tross  in  Paris,  male  and  female,  have 
not  yet  been  admitted  into  any  single  saloon  of  the 
real  good  or  high  society  in  Paris,  and  never  will  be. 
A  thus  called  highly  accomplished  and  fashionable 
lady  from  New  Orleans,  or  from  Washington, 
may  easily  be  taken  for  a  country  dress-maker,  or 
for  a  chamber-maid,  not  fit  for  first  families  of  the 
genuine  good  and  high  society  in  Paris,  and  all 
over  Europe. 

Stanton,  the  true  patriot,  frets  in  despair  at  Mc- 
Clellan's  keeping  the  army  in  the  unhealthiest  place 
of  Virginia.  Stanton's  opponents,, the  rats,  find  all 


,  1*62.1  DIARY.  229 


right,  even  the  deaths  by  disease.  In  the  end  Me- 
Clellan  is  to  be  all  the  better  for  it.  Is  there  no 
penitentiary  for  all  this  mob  ? 

New  regiments  pour  in,  the  people  are  sublime 
in  their  devotion  ;  only  may  these  regiments  not 
become  sacrificed  to  the  Jaggernaut  of  imbecility. 

Whatever  may  say  its  rcvilcrs,  this  Congress  will 
have  a  noble  and  pure  page  in  American  history. 
I  speak  of  the  majority. 

The  Congress  showed  energy,  clear  and  broad 
comprehension  and  appreciation  of  the  events  and 
of  men.  The  Congress  was  ready  for  every  sacri 
fice,  and  would  have  accelerated  the  crushing  of  the 
rebellion  but  for  the  formulas,  and  for  the  inade 
quacy  of  the  majority  in  the  administration.  If  the 
Congress  had  no  great  leaders,  the  better  for  it  ;  it 
had  honest  and  energetic  men,  and  their  leader  was 
their  purpose,  their  pure  belief  in  the  justice  of 
their  cause  and  in  the  people.  Such  leaders  elevate 
higher  any  political  body  than  could  ever  a  Clay, 
a  Webster,  etc.,  etc. 

The  Congress  is  palsied  by  the  inefficiency  of  the 
administration,  and  but  for  this,  the  Congress 
would  have  done  far  more  for  the  salvation  of  the 
country.  All  the  best  men  in  Congress  support 
Stanton,  and  this  alone  speaks  volumes.  It  is  a 
curse  that  the  administration  is  so  independent  of 
the  Congress.  Oh,  why  this  Congress  possesses  not 
the  omnipotence  of  an  English  Parliament  ?  Then 
the  Congress  would  have  prevented  all  the  evils 
hitherto  brought  upon  the  country  by  the  vacillating 


230  DIARY.  [Jtrms,  1883. 

military  and  geueral  policy.  Step  by  step  this  poli 
cy  brings  the  country  to  the  verge  of  an  abyss,  and 
it  will  tax  all  the  energy  of  the  people  not  to  be 
precipitated  in  it. 

Mr.  Lincoln  has  gone  to  get  inspiration  and  infor 
mation  from  Gen.  Scott.  Good  God !  Can  this 
man  never  go  out  from  this  rotten  tread-mill  ?  One 
more  advice  from  the  "  great  ruin,"  and  the  coun 
try  will  also  be  a  ruin. 

Flatterers,  sensation  writers,  and  all  this  magnet, 
clientum  caterva  extol  to  the  skies  Mr.  Lincoln's 
firmness  and  straight-forwardness.  The  firmness  is 
located,  and  is  to  be  discovered  in  various  places  — 
in  the  lips,  in  the  chin,  in  the  jaw,  and  God  knows 
where  else.  I  cannot  detect  any  firmness  in  his  ac 
tions  beyond  that  of  sticking  to  McClellan, — of 
whom  he  has  the  worst  opinion,  —  and  of  resisting 
the  emancipation  and  the  arming  of  Africo-Ameri- 
cans.  He  has  firmness  in  letting  the  country  be 
ruined. 

McClellan' s  bulletins  constitute  the  most  original 
and  strange  collection  of  style  in  general,  and  of 
military  style  in  particular.  Capt.  Morin  says  that 
the  first  thing  is  to  teach  McClellan  how  to  write 
military  bulletins. 

Mr.  Seward's  crew  of  politicians  is  busily  at 
work  among  congressmen,  etc.,  to  prepare  a  strong 
party  in  support  of  the  administration's  eventual 
concessions  to  slavery,  in  case  Richmond'  is  taken. 
Ultra  Democratic,  half  secession  Senators  are 
sounded. 


Jtmz,1862.]  DIARY.  231 

The  more  the  events  complicate,  the  more  they 
require  a  powerful,  all-embracing  mind,  but  in  the 
same  proportion  subside  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Seward, 
Mr.  Weed,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  great  men.  Alone 
the  people  and  their  true  men  subside  not. 

Poor  McDowell  suffers  for  the  sins  of  others  — 
above  all,  for  those  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  of  his  aulic 
council.  He  is  internally  broken  down,  but  behaves 
nobly ;  not  as  does  this  poor  Fremont,  whose  disap 
pearance  from  the  military  scene  cannot  and  must 
not  be  regretted.  He  is  not  a  military  capacity  ;  he 
was  again  badly  surrounded,  and  his  last  battle  was 
fought  at  random,  without  any  unity.  I  spoke 
about  it  with  various  foreign  officers  serving  under 
him,  and  all  agree  in  the  incapacity  of  Fremont  and 
of  his  staff. 

Gen.  Pope,  a  man  for  the  circumstances,  acted 
well  in  the  West ;  at  last  a  new  man. 

McClcllan  inaugurated  new  tactics.  It  is  to  ap 
proach  the  enemy's  army  by  parallels  and  by 
trenches.  He  will  not  take  or  scare  the  enemy,  but 
he  will  immortalize  his  name  far  above  the  immor 
tality  of  all  not  great  generals. 

Night  and  day  ambulances  are  conveying  the  sick 
and  wounded  here,  and  large  numbers,  thousands 
upon  thousands,  going  north.  One  must  cry  tears 
of  blood  to  witness  such  destruction,  such  a  sacrifice 
of  the  noblest  people  on  the  shrine  of  utter  military 
incapacity.  And  the  traitors,  the  imbeciles,  and  the 
intriguers  sing  hallelujah  to  McClellan,  and  daily 
throw  their  slime  at  Stauton. 


232  DIARY.  UtrNE.1862. 

From  time  to  time  rumors  and  complaints  are 
made  concerning  the  ill-will  or  disloyalty  of  some 
of  the  employes  in  the  Departments.  The  explana 
tion  thereof  may  be  that  some  of  the  thus  called 
old  fogies,  above  all  in  the  War  Department,  may 
be  unfriendly  to  the  war  without  being  disloyal. 
Such  venerables  took  root  in  comfortable  situations ; 
they  slowly  trod  in  the  easy  path  of  rusty  and  musty 
routine,  and  at  once  the  war  shook  them  to  the 
bone,  exposing  the  incapacity  and  the  inefficiency 
of  many ;  it  forced  upon  them  the  horror  of  cogi- 
tandi  about  new  matters,  and  an  amount  of  daily 
duties  to  be  performed  in  offices  which  formerly 
equalled  sinecures.  Further,  these  relics  dread  to 
be  superseded  by  more  active  and  intelligent  men ; 
and  inde  irce. 


JULY,    1862. 

Intervention  —  The  cursed  fields  of  the  Chickahominy  —  Titanic  fight 
ings,  but  no  generalship  —  McClcllan  the  first  to  reach  James  river 
—  The  Orleans  leave  —  July  4th,  the  gloomiest  since  the  birth  of  tho 
republic  — Not  reinforcements,  but  brains,  wanted;  and  brains  not 
transferable !  —  The  people  run  to  the  rescue  —  Kebcl  tactics  —  Lincoln 
docs  not  sacrifice  Stanton— McClcllan  not  the  greatest  culprit  — 
Stanton  a  true  statesman—  The  President  goes  to  James  river—  The 
Union  as  it  was,  a  throttling  nightmare!  —  A  man  needed!  —  Con 
fiscation  bill  signed  —  Congress  adjourned  —  Mr.  Dicey  —  Halleck,  the 
American  Carnot  —  Lincoln  tries  to  neutralize  the  confiscation  bill  — 
Guerillas  spread  like  locusts. 

WHEN  at  epochs  of  great  social  convulsions  events 
and  circumstances  put  certain  individuals  into  an 
eminent  or  elevated  position,  their  names  become  in 
tertwined  with  the  great  epoch.  In  the  eyes  of  the 
masses  and  of  the  vulgar  observers,  such  names  ac 
quire  a  high  importance  on  account  of  the  com 
monly  made  confusion  between  circumstances  and 
personal  merit,  and,  moonlight-like,  such  names 
reverberate  not  their  own,  but  a  borrowed  splendor. 
Thus  much  for  the  official  pilots  of  this  great  people. 

The  usual  paroxysm  of  the  foreign  intervention 
fever.  It  ought  to  be  so  easy  to  understand,  that 
out  of  self-respect  foreign  powers  will  not  risk  any 
intervention  on  paper ;  and  to  make  an  effective  in 
tervention  a  hundred  thousand  men  will  be  neces 
sary,  as  the  first  course.  Fgr  such  a  service  no 

233 


234  DIARY.  [JULY,  1862. 


foreign  power  is  prepared.  Intervention  is  silly 
talk.  McClellan  and  all  kinds  of  his  supporters  do 
more  for  the  South  than  could  England  and  France 
united. 

It  was  a  poor  trick  to  gather  by  telegraph  the  sig 
natures  of  the  governors  for  an  offer  of  troops  to  the 
President.  It  was  done  for  effect  in  Europe  ;  but 
events  seem  to  have  a  grudge  against  Mr.  Seward  ; 
the  same  steamer  carried  over  the  Atlantic  the  news 
of  our  defeats  in  the  Chickahominy  swamps. 

To  attempt  a  change  of  such  an  extensive  basis  as 
was  occupied  by  our  army  under  the  eyes  of  a  dar 
ing,  able,  skilful  enemy,  in  a  country  wooded  and 
marshy,  and  without  roads!  This  movement  was 
perhaps  necessary,  and  could  not  be  avoided  ;  but 
why  at  the  start  had  such  a  basis  been  selected? 
Such  a  selection  made  disasters  inevitable,  and  they 
followed. 

All  kinds  of  accounts  pour  in  from  these  cursed 
fields  of  the  Chickahominy.  Foreign  officers  — 
whose  veracity  I  can  believe  —  speak  enthusiastical 
ly  of  the  undaunted  bravery  of  the  volunteers  and 
of  their  generals  ;  but  a  general  generalship  was  not 
to  be  found  during  those  titanic  fightings.  "What  I 
gathered  from  the  suite  of  the  Orleans  is,  that  Gen. 
McClellan  was  totally  confused,  was  totally  ignorant 
of  the  condition  of  the  corps,  was  never  within  dis 
tance  to  give  or  to  be  asked  for  orders,  and  was  the 
first  to  reach  the  banks  of  the  James  and  to  sleep  on 
board  the  gunboat  Galena.  At  Winchester,  Banks 
in  person  covered  the  retreat,  -«•- 


JULY,  1862.]  DIARY*  235 

The  Orleans  left.  I  pity  them ;  they  will  be  hooted 
in  Europe.  They  shared  some  of  McClcr;in's  falla 
cious  and  petty  notions,  and  very  likely  they  have 
been  gulled  by  the  McClellan-Scward  expectations  of 
taking  Richmond  before  July  4th. 

Gen.  Hunter's  letter  about  fugitive  slaves,  and 
rebels  fugitive  from  the  flag  of  the  Union,  is  the 
noblest  contra  distinction.  No  rhetor  could  have 
invented  it.  Hang  yourselves,  oh  rhetors  ! 

July  4/A. —  The  gloomiest  since  the  birth  of  this 
republic.  Never  was  the  country  so  low,  and  after 
such  sacrifices  of  blood,  of  time,  and  of  money  ;  and 
all  this  slaughtered  to  that  Juggernaut  of  strategy, 
and  to  the  ignoble  motley  of  his  supporters. 

Oh  you  widows,  bereaved  mothers,  sisters,  and 
sweethearts,  cry  for  vengeance  !  Cry  for  vengeance, 
you  shadows  of  the  dead  of  the  malaria,  or  fallen  in 
the  defence  of  your  country's  honor.  Stupidity  has 
stabbed  in  the  back  more  deadly  wounds  than  did 
the  enemy  in  front.  This  is  the  4th  of  July.  Oh  ! 
my  old  heart  and  my,  not  weak,  mind  are  bursting 
with  grief. 

The  people,  the  masses,  sacrifice  their  blood,  their 
time,  their  fortune.  What  sacrifice  the  official  lead 
ers  and  pilots  ?  All  is  net  gain  for  them.  Thou 
sands  and  thousands  of  families  will  be  impoverished 
for  life,  nay,  for  generations.  It  is  those  nameless 
licroos  on  the  fields  of  battle  who  alone  uphold  the 
honor  of  the  American  name,  as  it  is  the  poopla  at 
large  who  have  the  true  statesmanship,  and  not  the 
appointed  guardsmen. 


236  DIARY.  [JULY,  1862. 

Rats,  hounds,  all  the  vermin,  all  the  impure 
beasts,  are  after  Stanton,  for  his  not  having  sent  re 
inforcements  to  McClellan;  but  none  existed,  and 
McClellan  has  exhausted  and  devoured  all  the  re 
serves.  Not  reinforcements,  but  brains,  were  want 
ed,  and  brains  are  not  transferable. 

The  people,  sublime,  runs  again  to  the  rescue, 
and  Mr.  Seward  is  so  sacrilegious,  so  impious,  as  to 
say  that  the  people  is  generally  slow.  He  is  fast  on 
the  road  of  confusion. 

I  am  sure  that  the  whole  movement  and  attack  of 
the  rebels  was  made,  as  it  could  be  made,  at  the 
utmost  with  60,000  to  70,000  men,  if  even  with  such 
a  number.  The  rebels  never  attacked  our  whole 
line,  but  always  threw  superior  forces  on  some  weak 
and  isolated  point.  This  the  rebels  did  during  the 
last  battles.  The  rebels  showed  great  generalship. 
Jackson  is  already  the  legendary  hero,  and  deserves 
to  be. 

McClellan  never  attacked,  but  always  was  sur 
prised  and  forced  to  fight,  so  the  rebels  were  sure 
that  he  would  not  dare  anything  to  counteract  and 
counter-manoeuvre  their  daring ;  so  the  rebel  gen 
erals  had  perfect  ease  for  the  execution  of  their 
bold  but  skilful  plans. 

Lincoln  sacrifices  not  Stanton,  not  even  to  Seward, 
to  Blair,  and  to  the  slaveocrats  in  Congress.  That  is 
something. 

McClellan  publishes  a  pompous  order  of  the  day 
for  the  4th  of  July,  and  apes  the  phraseology  of 


JXTLT,  1862.]  DIARY.  287 

Napoleon's  bulletins  from  times  when  by  a  blow 
Napoleon  overthrew  empires. 

What  I  can  gather  from  the  accounts  of  the  seven 
days'  fighting  is,  that  during  the  battle  at  Games' 
Mills  (to  speak  technically),  positively  the  whole 
army  was  without  any  basis.  But  traitors,  imbe 
ciles  and  intriguers  rend  the  air  and  the  skies  with 
their  praises  of  the  great  strategy  and  of  the  brilliant 
generalship. 

I  am  aware  how  difficult  it  will  be  to  convince  the 
heroic  army  —  that  is,  its  rank  and  file  —  that  their 
disasters  result  from  want  of  generalship,  and  not 
from  any  inferiority  in  numbers.  All  over  the  world 
incapable  commanders  raise  the  outcry  of  deficiency 
in  numbers  to  cover  therewith  their  personal  defi 
ciency  of  brains.  Similar  events  to  McClcllan's 
wails,  and  the  confusion  they  create  in  the  armies 
and  in  the  people,  are  nothing  new  in  the  history  of 
wars. 

A  fleet  of  gunboats  covers  the  army  on  the  James 
river.  Once  McClcllan  condescendingly  boasted 
that  he  would  take  care  of  the  gunboats.  The 
worst  is,  that  these  gunboats  could  have  done  ser 
vice  against  Charleston,  Mobile,  Savannah,  etc. 

After  all,  McClellan  is  not  the  greatest  culprit.  It 
is  not  his  fault  that  he  is  without  military  brains 
and  without  military  capacity.  He  tried  to  do  the 
best,  according  to  his  poor  intellect.  The  great, 
eternally-to-bc-damncd  malefactors  are  those  who 
kept  him  in  command  after  having  had  repeated  proofs 
of  his  incapacity ;  and  still  greater  are  those  con- 


238  DIARY.  [JtrLY,  1862. 

stitutional  advisers  who  supported  McClellan  against 
tho  outcry  of  the  best  in  the  Cabinet  and  in  the 
nation.  A  time  may  come  when  the  children  of 
those  malefactors  will  be  ashamed  of  their  fathers' 
names,  and  —  curse  them. 

I  have  not  scorn  enough  against  the  revilers  and 
accusers  of  Stanton.  If  Stanton  could  have  had 
his  free  will,  far  different  would  be  the  condition  of 
affairs.  Stan  ton's  first  appeararce  put  an  end  to 
tho  prevailing  lethargy,  and  marked  a  new  and 
glorious  era.  But,  ah  !  how  short !  The  rats  and 
the  vermin  were  afraid  of  him,  and  took  shelter  be 
hind  the  incarnated  strategy.  Stanton  embraced 
and  embraces  the  ensemble  of  the  task  and  of  the 
field  before  him.  And  this  politician,  Blair,  to  be 
his  critic !  If  Stanton  had  been  left  undisturbed  in 
the  execution  of  his  duties  as  the  Secretary  of  War, 
McClellan  would  have  been  obliged  to  march  direct 
ly  to  Richmond,  and  the  brainless  strategy  in  the 
Peninsula  would  have  been  crushed  in  the  bud.  If 
Stanton  had  not  been  undermined,  not  only  the  peo 
ple  would  have  been  saved  from  terrible  disasters, 
but  McClellan,  Lincoln,  Seward,  and  Blair  would 
have  been  saved  from  reproaches  and  from  maledic 
tion. 

Stanton  likewise  shows  himself  to  be  a  true  states 
man.  A  Democrat  in  politics,  he  very  likely  never 
was  such  a  violent  and  decided  opponent  of  slavery 
as  the  Sewards  and  Blairs  professed  to  be  through 
out  their  whole  lives.  But  now  Stanton  pierces  the 
fog,  perceives  the  unavoidable  exigencies,  and  is  an 


JULY,  1862.J  DIARY.  239 

emancipationist,  when  the  Sewards  and  the  Blairs 
try  to  compromise,  nay,  virtually  to  preserve  slavery . 

July  10th.  —  The  rebels  won  time  to  increase  and 
gather  their  forces  from  the  south.  McClellan's 
army  may  not  prevent  their  turning  against  Pope, 
who  has  too  small  a  body  to  resist  or  to  cover  the 
whole  line  from  Fredericksburg  to  the  Shcnandoah. 
If  the  rebels  attack  Pope  he  must  retreat  and  con 
centrate  before  Washington  ;  and  then  again  begins 
the  uphill  work.  The  people  generally  pour  in 
blood,  time  and  money ;  but  brains,  brains  are  need 
ed,  and,  without  violating  the  formulas,  the  people 
cannot  inaugurate  brains.  Whatever  the  people 
may  do,  the  same  quacks  and  bunglers  will  over 
again  commit  the  same  blunders.  Nothing  can  teach 
a  little  foresight  to  the  helmsman  and  to  some  of 
his  seconds.  Rocked  by  his  imagination,  Mr.  Sew- 
ard  never  sees  clearly  the  events  before  him  and 
what  they  generate. 

The  call  for  three  hundred  thousand  men  will  be 
responded  to.  The  men  will  come  ;  but  will  states 
manship  and  generalship  come  with  them  ?  I  am 
afraid  that  the  rebels,  operating,  with  promptness 
and  energy,  may  give  no  time  to  the  levies  to  be 
fully  organized ;  the  rebels  will  press  on  Washington. 

McClellan  reports  to  the  President  that  he  has 
only  50,000  men  left.  The  President  goes  to  James 
river,  and  finds  83,000  ready  for  action.  Was  it 
ignorance  in  McClellan,  or  his  inborn  disrespect  of 
truth,  or  disrespect  of  the  country,  or  something 
worse,  that  made  him  make  such  a  report  ?  And 


240  DIARY.  [JULY,  1862. 

all  this  passes,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  cannot  huit  Me. 
Clellan,  although  a  gory  shroud  extends  over  the 
whole  country. 

A  secretary  of  the  French  consul  is  here,  and 
confirms  my  speculations  concerning  the  numbers  of 
the  rebels  in  the  last  battles  on  the  Chickahominy. 
The  current  and  authoritative  opinion  in  Richmond 
is,  that  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Rio  Grande  the 
rebel  force  never  exceeded  800,000  men.  If  so,  the 
more  glory;  and  it  must  be  so,  according  to  the 
rational  analysis  of  statistics. 

Mr.  Scward  writes  a  skilful  dispatch  to  explain 
the  battles  on  the  Chickahominy.  But  no  skill  can 
succeed  to  bamboozle  the  cold,  clear-sighted  Euro 
pean  statesmen. 

No  doubt  Mr.  Seward  sincerely  wished  to  save 
the  Union  in  his  own  way  and  according  to  his  pe 
culiar  conception,  and,  after  having  accomplished 
it,  disappear  from  the  political  arena,  surrounded 
by  the  halo  of  national  gratitude. 

But  even  for  this  aim  of  reconstruction  of  the 
Union  as  it  was,  Mr.  Seward,  at  the  start,  took  the 
wrong  track,  and  took  it  because  he  is  ignorant  of 
history  and  of  the  logic  in  human  affairs.  To  save 
the  Union  as  it  was,  it  was  imperatively  necessary 
to  strike  quick  and  crushing  blows,  and  to  do  this  in 
May,  June,  etc.,  1861.  Mr.  Seward  could  have  re 
alized  then  what  now  is  only  a  throttling  nightmare 
—  the  Union  as  it  was.  But  Mr.  Seward  sustained 
a  policy  of  delays  and  not  of  blows ;  the  struggle 
protracts,  and,  for  reasons  repeatedly  mentioned,  the 


JULY,  1862.]  DIARY.  241 

suppression  of  rebellion  becomes  more  and  more 
difficult,  and  the  reconstruction  of  the  old  Union  as 
it  was  a  mirage  of  his  imagination. 

But  it  is  not  Thurlow  Weed,  and  others  of 
that  stamp,  who  could  enlighten  Mr.  Seward  on 
such  subjects  —  far,  far  above  their  vulgar  and  mean 
politicianism.  It  is  now  useless  to  accuse  and  con 
demn  Congress  for  its  so-called  violence,  as  docs  Mr. 
Seward,  and  to  assert  that  but  for  Congress  he,  Mr. 
Seward,  would  have  long  ago  patched  up  the  quar 
rel.  The  Congress  may  be  as  tame  as  a  lamb,  and 
as  subject  as  a  foot-sole.  Mr.  Seward  may  on  his 
knees  proffer  to  the  rebels  a  compromise  and  the 
most  stringent  safeguards  for  slavery  ;  to-day  the 
rebels  will  spurn  all  as  they  would  have  spurned  it 
during  the  whole  year.  The  rebels  will  act  as  Ma 
son  did  when  in  the  Senate  hall  Mr.  Seward  asked 
the  traitor  to  be  introduced  to  Mr.  Lincoln. 

The  country  is  in  more  need  of  a  man  than  of  the 
many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  new  levies.  « 

Some  time  ago  Mr.  Seward  gathered  around  him 
his  devotees  in  Congress  (few  in  number),  and  un 
veiled  to  them  that  nobody  can  imagine  what  super 
human  efforts  it  cost  him  to  avert  foreign  interven 
tion.  Very  unnecessary  demonstration,  as  he  knows 
it  well  himself,  and,  if  it  gets  into  the  papers,  may 
turn  out  to  be  offensive  to  the  two  cabinets,  as  they 
give  to  Mr.  Seward  no  reason  for  making  such  state 
ments.  Should  England  and  France  ever  decide 
upon  any  such  step,  then  Mr.  Seward  may  write  as 

16 


242  DIARY.  Mm,Y,  18G2. 


a  Cicero,  have  all  the  learning  of  a  Hugo  Grotius, 
of  a  Vattel,  and  of  all  other  publicists  combined; 
he  may  send  legions  of  Weods  and  Sandfords  to 
Europe,  and  all  this  will  not  weigh  a  feather  with 
the  cabinets  of  London  and  of  Paris. 

Further,  no  foreign  powers  occasioned  our  defeats 
in  the  Chickaliominy  ',  but  those  who  were  enraptured 
with  the  Peninsula  strategy. 

Mr.  Seward's  letter  to  the  great  meeting  in  New 
York  shows  that  not  his  patriotism,  but  his  confi 
dence  in  success,  is  slightly  notched. 

Nobody  doubts  his  patriotism  ;  but  Mr.  Seward 
tried  to  shape  mighty  events  into  a  mould  after  his 
not-over-gigantic  mind,  and  now  he  frets  because 
these  events  tear  his  sacrilegious  hand. 

After  much  opposition,  vacillation,  hesitation, 
and  aversion,  the  President  signed  the  confiscation 
and  emancipation  bill.  A  new  evidence  of  how  de 
votedly  he  wishes  to  avert  any  deadly  blows  from 
slavery,  —  this  national  shame. 

The  Congress  adjourned  after  having  done  every 
thing  good,  and  what  was  in  its  power.  It  separa 
ted,  leaving  the  country's  cause  in  a  worse  condition 
than  it  was  a  year  ago,  after  the  Bull  Run  day. 
Many,  nay,  almost  all  the  best  members  of  both 
houses  are  fully  aware  in  what  hands  they  left  the 
destinies  of  the  nation.  Many  went  away  with  de 
spair  in  their  hearts  ;  but  the  constitutional  formula 
makes  it  impossible  for  them  to  act,  and  to  save 
what  so  badly  needs  a  savior. 


JULY,  1862.]  DIARY.  243 

Intervention  fever  again.  The  worst  intervention 
is  perpetrated  at  home  by  imbeciles,  by  intriguers, 
by  traitors,  and  by  the  —  spades. 

Mr.  Dicey,  an  Englishman  who  travelled  or  trav 
els  in  this  country,  —  Mr.  D.  is  the  first  among  his 
countrymen  who  understands  the  events  here,  and 
who  is  just  toward  the  true  American  people ;  — 
Mr.  D.  truly  says  that  the  people  fight  without  a 
general,  and  without  a  statesman,  and  are  the  more 
to  be  admired  for  it. 

Mr.  Seward  tries  to  appear  grand  before  the  for 
eign  diplomats,  and  talks  about  Cromwell,  Louis 
Napoleon,  coup  cV  Etats  against  the  Congress,  and 
about  his  regrets  to  be  in  the  impossibility  to  imitate 
them.  Only  think,  Cromwell,  Napoleon  I.,  Napo 
leon  III.,  Seward !  Such  dictatorial  dreams  may 
explain  Mr.  Scward's  partiality  for  General  McClel- 
lan,  whom  Seward  may  perhaps  wish  to  use  as  Louis 
Napoleon  used  Gen.  St.  Arnoud. 

Ilallcck  is  to  be  the  American  Carnot.  But  any 
change  is  an  improvement.  If  Ilallcck  extricates 
the  army  on  the  James  river,  and  saves  it  from 
malaria,  —  this  enemy  more  deadly  than  Jackson 
and  McClcllan  combined,  —  then  for  this  single  ac 
tion  Ilallcck  deserves  well  of  the  country,  and  his 
Corinth  affair  will,  at  least  in  part,  be  atoned  for. 

Mr.  Lincoln  makes  a  new  effort  to  save  his  mam 
my,  and  tries  to  neutralize  the  confiscation  bill. 
Mr.  Lincoln  will  not  make  a  stop  beyond  what  is 
called  the  Cordar-States'  policy  ;  and  it  may  prove 
too  late  when  he  will  decide  to  honestly  execute  tho 


244  B  I  A  R  Y.  [JULY,  1862. 

law  of  Congress.  Mr.  Seward  gets  into  hysterics 
at  the  hateful  name  of  Congress.  Similar  spite  he 
showed  to  a  delegation  from  the  city  of  New  York, 
upbraiding  some  of  its  members,  and  assuring  them 
that  delegations  are  not  needed,  —  that  the  adminis 
tration  is  fully  up  to  the  task.  Yes,  Stanton  is,  but 
how  about  some  others  ? 

Poor  Mr.  Lincoln !  he  must  stand  all  the  mutual 
puffs  of  Seward  and  Sandford,  and  some  more  in 
store  for  him  when  the  Weeds  and  Hughes  will  come 
and  give  an  account  of  their  doings  in  Europe. 

The  report  of  the  battle  against  Casey,  as  pub 
lished  by  the  rebel  General  Johnston,  is  a  master 
piece  of  military  style,  and  shows  how  skilfully  the 
attack  was  combined.  The  Southern  leaders  have 
exclusively  in  view  the  triumph  of  their  cause. 
With  many  of  our  leaders,  the  people's  cause  is 
made  to  square  with  their  little  selfishness. 

Guerillas  spread  like  locusts.  Perhaps  they  are 
the  results  of  our  Union-searching,  slavery-saving 
policy. 


AUGUST,    1862. 

Emancipation  —  The  President's  hand  falls  back  — Weed  sent  for  — Gen. 
TTads worth—  The  new  levies  —  The  Africo- Americans  not  called  for 

—  Let  every  Northern  man  be  shot  rather  !  —  End  of  the  Peninsula 
campaign  —  Fifty  or  sixty  thousand  dead  — Who  is  responsible?  — 
The  army  saved  —  Lincoln  and  McClcllan  — The  President  and  the 
Africo-Americans  —  An  Eden  in  Chiriqui  —  Greclcy  —  The  old  lion 
begins  to  awake  —  Mr.  Lincoln    tells  stories  —  The  rebels  take  the 
offensive  —  European  opinion  —  MeClellan's  army  landed  —  Roebuck 

—  Ilalleck  —  Butler's  mistakes  — Hunter  recalled  —  Terrible  fighting 
at   Manassas — Popffcuts    his   way  through  —  Reinforcements   slow 
in  coining—  McClellan  reduced  in  command. 

Vulgatior  fama  cst,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  already 
raising  his  hand  to  sign  a  stirring  proclamation  011 
the  question  of  emancipation  ;  that  Stanton  was  up 
holding  the  President's  arm  that  it  might  not  grow 
weak  in  the  performance  of  a  sacred  duty ;  that 
Chase,  Bates,  and  Welles  joined  Stanton ;  hut  that 
Messrs.  Seward  and  Blair  so  firmly  objected  that 
the  President's  outstretched  hand  slowly  began  to 
fall  back  ;  that  to  precipitate  the  mortification,  Thur- 
low  Weed  was  telegraphed  ;  that  Thurlow  Weed  pre 
sented  to  Mr.  Lincoln  the  Medusa-head  of  Irish  riots 
in  the  North  against  the  emancipation  of  slaves  in 
the  South ;  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  mind  faltered  (oh, 
Steffens)  before  such  a  Chinese  shadow,  and  that 
thus  once  more  slavery  was  saved.  Relata  rcfero. 

245 


246  DIARY.  [AUGUST,  1862. 

General  Wadsworth  is  the  good  genius  of  the 
poor  and  oppressed  race.  But  for  Wadsworth's 
noble  soul  and  heart  the  Lamons  and  many  other 
blood-hounds  in  Washington  would  have  given 
about  three-fourths  of  the  fugitives  over  to  the  whip 
of  the  slavers. 

Within  the  last  four  weeks  600,000  new  levies  are 
called  to  arms.  With  the  600,000  men  levied  pre 
viously,  it  is  the  heaviest  draft  ever  made  from  a 
population.  No  emperor  or  despot  ever  did  it  in  a 
similar  lapse  of  time.  The  appreciation  current 
here  is,  that  the  twenty  millions  of  inhabitants  can 
easily  furnish  such  a  quota ;  but  the  truth  is  that 
the  draft,  or  the  levy,  or  the  volunteering,  is  made 
from  about  three  millions  of  men  between  the  ages 
of  twenty  and  forty  years.  One  million  two  hun 
dred  thousand  in  one  year  is  equal  to  nearly  36-100, 
and  this  from  the  most  vital,  the  most  generative, 
and  most  productive  part  of  the  population. 

The  sama  analysis  and  percentage  applied  to  the 
statistics  of  the  population  in  the  rebel  States  gives  a 
little  above  800,000  men  under  arms;  however,  the 
percentage  of  the  drafts  from  the  full-aged  popula 
tion  in  the  South  can  be  increased  by  some  15-100 
over  the  percentage  in  the  North.  This  increase  is 
almost  exclusively  facilitated  by  the  substratum  of 
slavery,  and  our  administration  devotedly  takes  care 
ne  detrimentum  capiat  that  peculiar  institution. 

The  last  draft  could  be  averted  from  the  North  if 
the  four  millions  of  loyal  Africo-Americans  were 
called  to  arms.  But  Mr.  Lincoln,  with  the  Sewards, 


AUGUST,  1862.]  DIARY.  247 

the  Blairs,  and  others,  will  rather  see  every  North 
ern  man  shot  than  to  touch  the  palladium  of  the 
rebels. 

These  new  enormous  masses  will  crush  the  rebel 
lion,  provided  they  are  not  marshalled  by  strategy  ; 
but  nevertheless  the  painful  confession  must  be 
made,  that  our  putting  in  the  field  of  three  to  one 
rebel  may  confuse  a  future  historian,  and  contribute 
to  root  more  firmly  that  stupid  fallacy  already  assert 
ed  by  the  rebels,  and  by  some  among  their  European 
upholders,  of  the  superiority  of  the  Southern  over 
the  Northern  thus  called  race.  Such  a  stigma  is 
inflicted  upon  the  brave  and  heroic  North  by  the 
strategy,  and  by  the  vacillating,  slave-saving  policy 
of  the  administration. 

This  is  the  more  painful  for  me  to  record,  as  most 
of  the  foreign  officers  in  our  service,  and  who  are 
experienced  and  good  judges,  most  positively  assert 
the  superior  fighting  qualities  of  the  Union  volun 
teers  over  the  rebels.  Our  troops  are  better  fed, 
clad  and  armed,  but  over  our  army  hovers  the  thick 
mist  of  strategy  and  indecision  ;  the  rebels  are  led 
not  by  anaconda  strategians,  but  by  fighting  gene 
rals,  desperate,  and  thus  externally  heroic  ;  energy 
inspires  their  councils,  their  administration,  and 
their  military  leaders. 

If  Stanton  and  Hallcck  succeed  in  extricating  the 
army  on  the  James  river,  then  they  will  deserve  the 
gratitude  of  the  people.  The  malaria  there  must  be 
more  destructive  than  would  be  many  battles. 

Events  triumphantly  justify  Stanton's  opposition 


248  DIARY.  [AUGUST,  1862. 

to  the  Peninsula  strategy  and  campaign.  So  ends 
this  horrible  sacrifice  ;  between  fifty  and  sixty  thou 
sand  killed  or  dead  by  diseases.  The  victims  of  this 
holocaust  have  fallen  for  their  country's  cause,  but 
the  responsibility  for  the  slaughter  is  to  be  equally 
divided  between  McClellan,  Lincoln,  Seward  and 
Blair.  Even  Sylla  had  not  on  his  soul  so  much 
blood  as  has  the  above  quatuor.  When,  after  the  vic 
tory  over  the  allied  Samnites  and  others,  at  the 
Colline  gate  of  Rome,  Sylla  ordered  the  massacre  of 
more  than  four  thousand  prisoners  who  laid  down 
their  arms ;  when  his  lists  of  proscription  filled  with 
blood  Rome  and  other  cities  of  Italy,  Sylla  so  firmly 
consolidated  the  supremacy  of  the  Urbs  over  Italy 
and  over  the  world,  that  after  twenty  centuries  of 
the  most  manifold  vicissitudes,  transformations  and 
tempests,  this  supremacy  cannot  yet  be  upturned. 
But  the  holocaust  to  strategy  resulted  in  humiliating 
the  North  and  in  heaping  glory  on  the  Southern 
leaders. 

If  the  newly  called  600,000  men  finish  the  rebel 
lion  before  Congress  meets,  then  slavery  is  saved. 
To  save  slavery  and  to  avoid  emancipation  was  per 
haps  the  secret  aim  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  Seward,  and 
Blair  ;  who  knows  but  that  of  Halleck,  when 
the  administration  called  for  the  additional  300,000 
men  ? 

Persons  who  approach  Halleck  say  that  he  is  a 
thorough  pro-slavery  partisan.  His  order  No.  3, 
the  opinion  of  some  officers  of  his  staff,  and  his  asso 
ciations,  make  me  believe  in  the  truth  of  that  report. 


AUGUST,  1862.]  DIARY.  249 

Mr.  Seward  says  sub  rosa  to  various  persons,  that 
slavery  is  an  obsolete  question,  and  lie  assures  others 
that  emancipation  is  a  fixed  fact,  and  is  no  more  to 
be  held  back ;  that  he  is  no  more  a  conservative. 
How  are  we  to  understand  this  man  ?  If  Mr.  Sew 
ard  is  sincere,  then  his  last  transformation  may 
prove  that  he  has  given  up  the  idea  of  finding  a 
Union  party  in  the  South,  or  that  he  wishes  to  re 
conquer  —  what  he  has  lost  —  the  confidence  of  the 
party.  But  this  return  on  his  part  may  prove  trop- 
po  tardi. 

The  army  of  the  Potomac  is  saved ;  the  heroes, 
martyrs,  and  sufferers  are  extricated  from  the  grasp 
of  death.  This  epopee  in  the  history  of  the  civil 
war  will  immortalize  the  army,  but  the  strategian's 
immortality  will  differ  from  that  of  the  army. 

England  and  France  firm  in  their  neutrality. 
Lord  John  Russell's  speeches  in  Parliament  are  all 
that  can  be  desired. 

Will  it  ever  be  thoroughly  investigated  and  eluci 
dated  why,  after  the  evacuation  of  Corinth,  the  on 
ward  march  of  our  everywhere-victorious  Western 
armies  came  at  once  to  a  stand-still  ?  The  guerillas, 
the  increase  of  forces  in  Richmond,  and  some  event 
ual  diasters,  may  be  directly  traced  to  this  inconceiv 
able  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Western  command 
ers  or  of  the  Commander-in-chief.  Was  not  some 
Union-searching  at  the  bottom  of  that  stoppage  ? 
When,  months  ago,  a  false  rumor  was  spread  about 
the  evacuation  of  Memphis  and  Corinth,  Mr.  Seward 
was  ready  to  start  for  the  above-mentioned  places,  of 


250  DIARY.  [  VUGUST,  1862. 

course  in  search  of  the  Union  feeling.  Perhaps 
others  were  drawn  into  this  Union-searching,  Union 
and  slavery-restoring  conspiracy. 

I  have  most  positive  reasons  to  believe  that  Gen. 
Halleck  wished  to  remove  Gen.  McClellan  from  the 
command  of  the  army.  The  President  opposed  to 
it.  Men  of  honor,  of  word,  and  of  truth,  and  who 
are  on  intimate  footing  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  repeatedly 
assured  me  that,  in  his  conversation,  the  President 
judges  and  appreciates  Gen.  McClellan  as  he  is 
judged  and  appreciated  by  those  whom  his  crew  call 
his  enemies.  With  all  this,  Mr.  Lincoln,  through 
thin  and  thick,  supports  McClellan  and  maintains 
him  in  command.  Such  a  double-dealing  in  the 
chief  of  a  noble  people !  Seemingly  Mr.  Seward 
and  Mr.  Blair  always  exercise  the  most  powerful 
influence.  Both  wished  that  the  army  remain  in 
the  malarias  of  the  James  river.  Whatever  be  their 
reasons,  one  shudders  in  horror  at  the  ease  with 
which  all  those  culprits  look  on  this  bloody  affair. 
Oh  you  widowed  wives,  mothers,  and  sweethearts ! 
oh  you  orphaned  children !  oh  you  crippled  and 
disabled,  you  impoverished  and  ruined,  by  sacrific 
ing  to  your  country  more  than  do  all  the  Lincolns, 
McClellans,  Blairs,  and  Sewards !  Some  day  you 
will  ask  a  terrible  account,  and  if  not  the  present 
day,  posterity  will  avenge  you. 

It  is  very  discouraging  to  witness  that  the  Presi 
dent  shows  little  or  no  energy  in  his  dealings  with 
incapacities,  and  what  a  mass  of  intrigues  is  used  to 
excuse  and  justify  incapacity  when  the  nation's  life- 


Atro06T,  1862.]  DIARY.  251 

blood  runs  in  streams.  Without  the  slightest  hesi 
tation  any  European  government  would  dismiss  an 
incapable  commander  of  an  army,  and  the  French 
Convention,  that  type  of  revolutionary  and  nation- 
saving  energy,  dealt  even  sharper  with  military  and 
other  incapacities. 

Regiments  after  regiments  begin  to  pour  in,  to 
make  good  the  deadly  mistakes  of  our  rulers.  The 
people,  as  always,  sublime,  inexhaustible  in  its  sac 
rifices  !  God  grant  that  administrative  incompetency 
may  become  soon  exhausted  ! 

Mr.  Seward  told  a  diplomat  that  his  (Seward's) 
salary  was  $8,000,  and  he  spends  double  the  amount ; 
thus  sacrificing  to  the  country  $8,000.  When  I  hear 
such  reports  about  him,  I  feel  ashamed  and  sorrow 
ful  on  his  account.  Such  talk  will  not  increase  es 
teem  for  him  among  foreigners  and  strangers  ;  and  al 
though  I  am  sure  that  Mr.  Seward  intended  to  make 
a  joke,  even  as  such  it  was  worse  than  a  poor  one. 

In  his  interview  with  a  deputation  composed  of 
Africo- Americans,  Mr.  Lincoln  rehearsed  all  the 
clap -trap  concerning  the  races,  the  incompatibility 
to  live  together,  and  other  like  bosh.  Mr.  Lincoln 
promised  to  them  an  Eden  —  in  Chiriqui.  Mr.  Lin 
coln  promised  them  —  what  he  ought  to  know  is 
utterly  impossible  and  beyond  his  power  —  that 
they  will  form  an  independent  community  in  a  coun 
try  already  governed  by  orderly  and  legally  organ 
ized  States,  as  are  New  Grenada  and  Costa  Rica. 
Happily  even  for  Mr.  Lincoln's  name,  the  logic  of 
human  events  will  save  from  exposure  his  ignorance 


252  DIARY.  [AUGUST,  1862. 

of  international  laws,  and  his  too  light  and  too  quick 
assertions.  I  pity  Mr.  Lincoln ;  his  honesty  and 
unfamiliarity  with  human  affairs,  with  history,  with 
laws,  and  with  other  like  etceteras,  continually  in 
volve  him  in  unnecessary  scrapes. 

The  proclamation  concerning  the  colonization  is 
issued.  It  is  a  display  of  ignorance  or  of  humbug, 
or  perhaps  of  both.  Some  of  the  best  among  Amer 
icans  do  not  utter  their  condemnation  of  this  colo 
nization  scheme,  because  the  President  is  to  be 
allowed  to  carry  out  his  hobby.  The  despots  of  the 
Old  World  will  envy  Mr.  Lincoln.  Those  despots 
can  no  more  carry  out  their  hobbies.  The  Roi 
s 'amuse  had  its  time  ;  but  the  il  bondo  cani  of  some 
here,  at  times,  beats  that  of  the  Italina  in  Algcro. 

The  two  letters  of  Greeley  to  the  President  show 
that  the  old,  indomitable  lion  begins  to  awake.  As 
to  Mr.  Lincoln's  answer,  it  reads  badly,  and  as  for 
all  the  rest,  it  is  the  eternal  dodging  of  a  vital 
question. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  equanimity,  although  not  so  stoical, 
is  unequalled.  In  the  midst  of  the  most  stirring 
and  exciting  —  nay,  death-giving — news,  Mr.  Lin 
coln  has  always  a  story  to  tell.  This  is  known  and 
experienced  by  all  who  approach  him.  Months  ago 
I  was  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  presence  when  he  received  a 
telegram  announcing  the  crossing  of  the  Mississippi 
by  Gen.  Pope,  at  New  Madrid.  Scarcely  had  Mr. 
Lincoln  finished  the  reading  of  the  dispatch,  when 
he  cracked  (that  is  the  sacramental  word)  two  not 
very  washed  stories. 


AX-GUST,  1862.]  DIARY.  253 

When  the  history  of  this  administration  shall  be 
come  well  known,  contemporary  and  future  genera 
tions  will  wonder  and  be  puzzled  to  know  how  the 
most  intelligent  and  enlightened  people  in  the  world 
could  produce  such  fruits  and  results  of  self-gov 
ernment. 

The  rebel  chiefs  take  the  offensive  ;  they  unfold  a 
brilliancy  in  conception  and  rapidity  in  execution 
of  which  the  best  generals  in  any  army  might  be 
proud.  McClellan's  army  was  to  be  prevented 
from  uniting  with  Pope.  But  it  seems  that  Pope 
manoeuvres  successfully,  and  approaches  McClellan. 

If  only  our  domestic  policy  were  more  to  the 
point,  England  and  France  could  not  be  complained 
of.  Mr.  Mercier  behaves  here  as  loyally  as  can  be 
wished,  and  carefully  avoids  evoking  any  misunder 
standings  whatever.  So  do  Louis  Napoleon,  Mr. 
Thouvencl,  Lord  John  Russell,  notwithstanding 
Mr.  Seward's  all-confusing  policy.  Mr.  Mercier 
never,  never  uttered  in  my  presence  anything  what 
ever  which  in  the  slightest  manner  could  irritate 
even  the  thinnest-skinned  American. 

As  I  expected,  Louis  Napoleon  and  Mr.  Thouvencl 
highly  esteem  Mr.  Dayton ;  and  it  will  be  a  great 
mistake  to  supersede  Mr.  Dayton  in  Paris  by  the 
travelling  agent  of  the  sewing  machine.  It  seems 
that  such  a  change  is  contemplated  in  certain  quar 
ters,  because  the  agent  parleys  poor  French.  Such 
a  change  will  not  be  flattering,  and  will  not  be 
agreeable  to  the  French  court,  to  the  French  cabinet, 
and  to  the  French  good  society. 


254  DIARY.  [AUGUST,  1862. 

On  the  continent  of  Europe  sympathy  begins  to  be 
unsettled,  unsteady.  As  independence  is  to-day  the 
watchword  in  Europe,  so  the  cause  of  the  rebels  ac 
quires  a  plausible  justification.  Various  are  the 
reasons  of  this  new  counter  current.  Prominent 
among  them  is  the  vacillating,  and  by  Europeans 
considered  to  be  INHUMAN,  policy  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
regard  to  slavery,  the  opaqueness  of  our  strategy, 
and  the  brilliancy  of  the  tactics  of  the  rebel  generals, 
and,  finally,  the  incapacity  of  our  agents  to  enlighten 
European  public  opinion,  and  to  explain  the  true 
and  horrible  character  of  the  rebellion.  Repeatedly 
I  warned  Mr.  Seward,  telling  him  that  the  tide  of 
public  opinion  was  rising  against  us  in  Europe,  and 
I  explained  to  him  the  causes ;  but  of  course  it  was 
useless,  as  his  agents  say  the  contrary,  and  say  it  for 
reasons  easily  to  be  understood. 

McClellan's  army  landed,  and  he  is  to  be  in  com 
mand  of  all  the  troops.  I  congratulate  all  therein 
concerned  about  this  new  victory.  Bleed,  oh  bleed, 
American  people  !  Mr.  Lincoln  and  consortes  in 
sisted  that  McClellan  remain  in  command.  SISTE 

TANDEM  CARNIFEX  ! 

Mr.  Roebuck,  M.  P.,  the  gentleman  !  About  thir 
ty  years  ago,  when  entering  his  public  career  as  a 
member  for  Bath,  Mr.  Roebuck  was  publicly  slapped 
in  the  face  during  the  going  on  of  the  election.  A 
few  years  ago  Mr.  Roebuck  went  to  Vienna  in  the 
interests  of  some  lucrative  railroad  or  Lloyd  specula 
tion,  and  returned  to  England  a  fervent  and  devoted 
admirer  of  the  Hapsbvugs,  and  a  rcviler  of  all 


AUGUST,  1862.]  DIARY.  255 

that  once  was  sacred  to  the  disciple  of  Jeremy 
Bentham. 

General  Halleck  may  become  the  savior  of  the 
country.  I  hope  and  ardently  wish  that  it  may  be 
so,  although  his  qualifications  for  it  are  of  a  rather 
doubtful  nature.  Gen.  Halleck  wrote  a  book  on 
military  science,  as  he  wrote  one  on  international 
laws,  and  both  are  laborious  compilations  of  other 
people's  labors  and  ideas.  But  perhaps  Halleck,  if 
not  inspired,  may  become  a  regular,  methodical  cap 
tain.  Such  was  Moreau. 

Also,  Gen.  Halleck  is  not  to  take  the  field  in  per 
son.  I  am  told  that  it  was  so  decided  by  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  against  Halleck's  wish.  What  an  anomalous 
position  of  a  commander  of  armies,  who  is  not  to  see 
a  field  of  battle  !  Such  a  position  is  a  genuine,  new 
American  invention,  but  it  ought  not  to  be  patented, 
at  least  not  for  the  use  of  other  nations.  It  is  im 
possible  to  understand  it,  and  it  will  puzzle  every 
one  having  sound  common  sense. 

Gen.  Butler  commits  a  mistake  in  taunting  and 
teasing  the  French  population  and  the  French  con 
sul  in  New  Orleans.  When  Butler  was  going  there, 
Mr.  Seward  ought  to  have  instructed  him  concern 
ing  our  friendly  relations  with  Louis  Napoleon,  and 
concerning  the  character  of  the  French  consul  in 
New  Orleans,  who  was  not  partial  to  secesh.  There 
may  be  some  secesh  French,  but  the  bulk,  if  well 
managed,  would  never1  take  a  decided  position 
against"  us  as  long  as  we  were  on  friendly  terms  with 
Louis  Napoleon. 


256  DIARY.  [AUGUST,  1862. 

The  President  is  indefatigable  in  his  efforts  to  — 
save  slavery,  and  to  uphold  the  policy  of  the  New 
York  Herald. 

It  is  said  that  General  Hunter  is  recalled,  and  so 
was  General  Phelps  from  New  Orleans;  General 
Phelps  could  not  coolly  witness  the  sacrilegious  mas 
sacre  of  the  slaves.  The  inconceivable  partiality 
of  the  President  for  McClellan  may,  after  all,  be 
possibly  explained  by  the  fact  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
Mr.  Seward  see  in  McClellan  a  —  savior  of  slavery. 

During  two  days'  terrible  fighting  at  Manassas,  at 
Bull  Run,  and  all  around,  Pope  cut  his  way  through, 
but  the  reinforcements  from  McClcllan's  army  in 
Alexandria  are  slow  in  coming.  McClellan  and  his 
few  pets  among  the  generals  may  not  object  to  see 
Pope  worsted.  Such  things  happened  in  other  ar 
mies,  even  almost  under  the  eyes  of  Napoleon,  as  in 
the  campaign  on  the  Elbe,  in  1813.  Any  one  worth 
the  name  of  a  general,  when  he  has  no  special  posi 
tion  to  guard,  and  hears  the  roar  of  cannon,  by 
forced  marches  runs  to  the  field  of  battle.  Not  any 
special  orders,  but  the  roar  of  cannon,  attracted  and 
directed  Desaix  to  Marengo,  and  Mac  Mahon  to 
Magenta.  The  roar  of  cannon  shook  the  air  be 
tween  Bull  Run  and  Alexandria,  and Gene 
ral  McClellan  and  others  had  positive  orders  to  run 
to  the  rescue  of  Pope. 

I  should  not  wonder  if  the  President,  enthu- 
siasmed  by  this  new  exploit  of  McClellan,  were  to 
nominate  him  for  his,  the  President's,  eventual  suc 
cessor  ;  Mr.  Blair  will  back  the  nomination. 


AUGUST,  1862.]  DIARY.  257 

It  is  said  that  during  these  last  weeks,  Wallach, 
the  editor  of  the  unwashed  Evening'  Star,  is  in  con 
tinual  intercourse  with  the  President.  Arcades 
ambo. 

McClellan  reduced  in  command  ;  only  when  the 
life  of  the  nation  was  almost  breathing  its  last. 
This  concession  was  extorted  from  Mr.  Lincoln ! 
What  will  Mr.  Seward  say  to  it  ? 

17 


SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

Consummatnm  est !  —Will  the  outraged  people  avenge  itself?  — McClel- 
lan  satisfies  the  President  — After  a  year  !  — The  truth  will  be  throt 
tled —  Public  opinion  in  Europe  begins  to  abandon  us  —  The  country 
marching  to  its  tomb  —  Hooker,  Kearney,  Heintzclman,  Sigel,  brave 
and  true  men— Supremacy  of  mind  over  matter  —  Stanton  the  last 
Roman  —  Inauguration  of  the  pretorian  regime  —  Pope  accuses  three 
generals — Investigation  prevented  by  McClellan — McDowell  sacri 
ficed—The  country  inundated  with  lies  —  The  demoralized  army  de 
clares  for  McClellan  —  The  pretorians  will  soon  finish  with  liberty  — 
Wilkes  sent  to  the  West  Indian  waters  —  Russia  —  Mediation  —  In 
vasion  of  Maryland  —  Strange  story  about  Stanton  —  Richmond  never 
invested— McClellan  in  search  of  the  enemy  — Thirty  miles  in  six 
days  —  The  telegrams  —  Wadsworth  —  Capitulation  ft"  Harper's 
Ferry  —  Five  days'  fighting  —  Brave  Hooker  wounded  —  No  results 

—  No  reports  from  McClellan  — Tactics  of  the  Maryland  campaign  — 
Nobody    hurt    in    the  staff— Charmed  lives  —  Wadsworth,    Judge 
Conway,  Wade,  Boutwell,  Andrew —  This  most  intelligent  people  be 
come  the  laughing-stock  of  the  world !  —  The  proclamation  of  eman 
cipation  —  Seward  to  the   Paisley  Association  —  Future  complica 
tions —  If  Hooker   had  not    been  wounded!  —  The    military  situa 
tion  —  Sigel   persecuted  by  West  Point  —  Three    cheers    for    the 
carriage  and  six !  —  How  the  great  captain  was  to  catch  the  rebel  army 

—  Interview  with  the  Chicago  deputation  —  Winter  quarters  —  The 
conspiracy  against  Sigel  —  Numbers  of  the  rebel  army  —  Letters  of 
marque. 

THE  intrigues,  the  insubordination  of  McClellan's 
pets,  have  almost  exclusively  brought  about  the  dis 
asters  at  Manassas  and  at  Bull  Run,  and  brought 
the  country  to  the  verge  of  the  grave.  But  the 
people  are  not  to  know  the  truth. 

258 


6EPTEM15KR,  1862.]  DIARY.  259 

CONSUBIMATUM  ESI  !  The  people's  honor  is  stained 
—  the  country's  cause  on  the  verge  of  the  grave. 
Will  this  outraged  people  avenge  itself  on  the  four 
or  five  diggers  ? 

Old  as  I  am,  I  feel  a  more  rending  pain  now  than 
I  felt  thirty  years  ago  when  Poland  was  entombed. 
Here  are  at  stake  the  highest  interests  of  humanity, 
of  progress,  of  civilization.  I  find  no  words  to 
utter  my  feelings ;  my  mind  staggers.  It  is  filled 
with  darkness,  pain,  and  blood. 

Mr.  Lincoln  is  the  standard-bearer  of  the  policy 
of  the  New  York  Herald.  So,  before  him,  were 
Pierce  and  Buchanan. 

It  is  said  that  General  McClcllan  fully  satisfied 
the  President  of  his  (the  General's)  complete  inno 
cence  as  to  the  delays  which  exclusively  generated 
the  last  disasters ;  also  Gen.  McClellan  has  justified 
himself  on  military  grounds.  I  wish  the  verdict  of 
innocence  may  be  uttered  by  a  court-martial  of  Eu 
ropean  generals.  At  any  rate,  the  country  was 
thrown  into  an  abyss. 

After  a  year !  —  One  hundred  thousand  of  the 
best,  bravest,  the  most  devoted  men  slaughtered ; 
hundreds  and  hundreds  of  millions  squandered  ;  the 
army  again  in  the  entrenchments  of  Washington ; 
everywhere  the  defensive  and  losses  ;  the  enemy  on 
the  Potomac,  perhaps  to  invade  the  free  States  ;  but 
McClellan  is  in  command,  his  headquarters  as  bril 
liant  and  as  numerous  as  a  year  ago ;  the  mean 
flunkeys  at  their  post ;  only  the  country's  life-blood 
pours  in  streams  ;  but  —  that  is  of  no  account. 


260  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBKB,  1862. 

No  acids  are  so  dissolving  and  so  corrosive  as  is 
the  air  of  Washington  on  patriotism.  How  few 
resist  its  action !  Among  the  few  are  Stanton, 
Chase  (a  passive  patriot),  Wadsworth,  Dahlgreen, 
and  those  grouping  around  Stanton  ;  so  is  Welles  ; 
likewise  Fox  ;  but  they  are  powerless.  Washington 
is  likewise  the  greatest  garroter  of  truth ;  and  I  am 
sure  that  the  truth  about  the  last  battles  will  be 
throttled  and  never  elucidated. 

September  3. —  The  Cabinets  of  France  and  of 
England  will  have  a  very  hard  stand  to  resist  the 
pressure  of  public  opinion,  carried  away  by  the  skill 
and  by  the  plausible  heroism  of  the  rebels.  Public 
opinion  will  be  clamorous  that  something  be  done 
in  favor  of  the  rebels.  Happily,  nothing  else  can  be 
done  but  a  war,  and  this  saves  us.  But  if  the  rebels 
succeed  without  Europe,  the  more  glory  for  their 
chiefs,  the  more  ignominy  for  ours.  Public  opinion 
begins  to  abandon  us  in  Europe.  Already  I  have 
explained  some  of  the  reasons  for  it. 

The  country  is  marching  to  its  tomb,  but  the 
grave-diggers  will  not  confess  their  crime  and  their 
utter  incapacity  to  save  it.  This  their  stubbornness 
is  even  a  greater  crime.  Will  Halleck  warn  the 
country  against  McClellan's  incapacity  ? 

We  have  such  generals  as  Hooker,  Heintzelman, 
Kearney,  etc.,  who  fought  continually,  and  with 
odds  against  them,  and  who  never  were  worsted. 
Those  three,  among  the  best  of  the  army,  fought 
under  Pope  and  mutineercd  not.  In  any  other 
country  such  men  would  receive  large,  even  the 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  261 

superior  command  ;  here  the  palm  belongs  to  the 
incapable,  the  slow,  and  to  the  flatterer.  The  same 
with  Sigel.  His  corps  is  reduced  to  6,000  men  ; 
common  sense  shows  that  he  ought  to  have  at  least 
25,000  under  him.  Sigel  begged  the  President  to 
have  more  men ;  the  President  sent  him  to  Halleck 
and  McClellan,  who  both  snubbed  him  off.  By  my 
prayer  Sigel,  although  disheartened,  went  to  Stan- 
ton,  who  received  him  friendly  and  warmly,  and 
promised  to  do  his  utmost.  Stanton  will  keep  his 
word,  if  only  the  West  Point  envy  will  not  prevent 
him. 

Hooker,  Kearney,  and  Heintzelman  wero  not  in 
favor  at  the  headquarters  in  the  Peninsula,  and 
their  commands  have  been  continually  disorganized 
in  favor  of  the  pets  of  the  Commander-in-Chief. 
The  country  knows  what  the  three  braves  did  since 
Yorktown  down  to  the  last  day — the  country  knows 
that  at  the  last  disasters  at  Bull  Run  these  heroic 
generals  did  their  fullest  duty.  But  not  even  their 
advice  is  asked  at  the  double  headquarters.  Stan- 
ton  alone  cannot  do  everything.  Rats  may  devour 
a  Hercules. 

It  seems  certain  that  the  rebel  generals  have  vari 
ous  foreign  officers  in  their  respective  staffs.  The 
rebels  wish  to  assure  the  success  of  their  cause  ; 
here  many  have  only  in  view  their  personal  success. 
The  President,  although  not  a  Blucher,  may  make 
a  Giieisenau  out  of  Sigel,  who  has  in  view  only  the 
success  of  the  cause,  and  no  prospects  towards  the 
White  House.  Sigel  would  understand  how  to  or 
ganize  a  genuine  staff. 


262  D  1  A  ft  Y.  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

Most  of  the  foreigners  who  came  to  serve  here 
came  with  the  intention  to  fight  for  the  sacred  prin 
ciple  of  freedom,  and  without  any  further  views 
whatever  of  career  and  aggrandizement.  In  this 
respect  Americans  are  not  just  towards  these  foreign 
ers,  and  the  great  men  at  headquarters  will  prefer 
to  see  all  go  to  pieces  than  to  use  the  capacity  of 
foreigners,  above  all  in  the  artillery  and  for  the 
staff  duties. 

The  mind — that  is,  Jeff.  Davis,  Jackson,  Lee,  etc. 
—  has  the  best  of  the  matter  —  that  is,  Lincoln, 
McClellan,  Blair,  and  Seward ;  however,  these  posi 
tions  are  reversed  when  one  considers  the  masses  on 
both  sides.  But  on  our  side  the  matter  commands 
and  presses  down  the  mind ;  on  the  rebel  side  the 
mind  of  the  chiefs  vivifies,  exalts,  attracts,  and  di 
rects  the  matter.  And  the  results  thereof  are,  that 
not  the  rebellion^  but  the  North,  is  shaking. 

As  #,  not  only  as  the  President,  Mr.  Lincoln  rep 
resents  nothing  beyond  the  unavoidable  constitu 
tional  formula.  For  all  other  purposes,  as  an  act 
ing,  directing,  inspiring,  or  combining  power  or 
agency,  Mr.  Lincoln  becomes  a  myth.  His  reality 
is  only  manifested  by  preserving  slavery,  by  sticking 
to  McClellan,  by  distributing  offices,  by  receiving 
inspirations  from  Mr.  Seward,  and  by  digging  the 
country's  grave.  So  it  is  from  March  4,  1861,  up 
to  this,  September  5th,  1862.  What  else  Mr.  Lin 
coln  may  eventually  incarnate  is  not  now  percepti 
ble. 

Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward  piloted  the  country 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.1  DIARY.  263 

among  breakers  and  rocks,  from  which  to  extricate 
the  country  requires  a  man  who  is  to  be  the  burn 
ing  focus  of  the  whole  people's  soul. 

Other  nations  at  times  reached  the  bottom  of  an 
abyss,  and  they  came  up  again  when  from  the  tem 
pest  rending  them  emerged  such  a  savior.  But 
here  the  formula  may  render  impossible  the  appear 
ance  of  such  a  savior.  The  formula  is  the  nation's 
hearse.  The  formula  has  neutralized  the  best  men 
in  Congress,  the  best  men  in  the  Cabinet,  as  is  Stan- 
ton. 

The  people  have  decided  not,  propter  vitam  vi- 
vendi  perdere  causas ;  but  the  various  formulas,  the 
schemers,  the  grave-diggers,  and  the  aspirants  for 
the  White  House,  think  differently. 

The  almost  daily  changes  made  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
the  command  of  the  forces  are  the  best  evidences 
of  his  good-intentioned  —  debility. 

Harmony  belongs  to  the  primordial  laws  of  na 
ture  ;  it  is  the  same  for  human  societies.  But  here 
no  harmony  exists  between  the  purest,  the  noblest, 
and  the  most  patriotic  portion  of  the  people,  and 
the  official  exponent  of  the  people's  will,  and  of  its 
higher  and  purer  aspirations.  So  here  all  jars  disso- 
nantly ;  all  is  confusion,  because  avenged  must  be 
every  violation  of  nature's  law. 

I  cannot  believe  that  at  this  deadly  crisis  the  sal 
vation  can  come  from  Washington.  The  best  man 
here  has  not  his  free  action.  And  the  rest  of  them 
are  the  country's  curse.  Mr.  Lincoln,  with  McClel- 
lan,  Seward,  Blair,  Halleck,  and  scores  of  such,  are 


264  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

as  able  to  cope  with  this  crisis  as  to  stop  the  revolu 
tion  of  our  planet. 

Up  to  this  day,  from  among  those  foremost,  the 
only  man  whose  hands  remain  unstained  with  the 
country's,  his  mother's,  and  his  brethren's  blood, 
the  last  Roman,  is  Stanton. 

September  1. —  During  last  night  troops  marched 
to  meet  the  enemy,  saluting  with  deafening  shouts 
and  cheers  the  residence  of  McClellan ;  spit-lickers 
as  a  Kennedy,  giving  the  sign  by  waving  his  hat. 
Such  shouts  would  cheer  up  the  mind  but  for  the 
fact  that  they  were  mostly  raised  for  the  victory  over 
those  who  demanded  an  investigation  of  the  causes 
of  slowness  and  insubordination,  —  those  exclusive 
causes  of  the  defeat  of  Pope's  army.  Those  shouts 
were  thrown  out  as  defiance  to  justice,  to  truth, 
and  to  law.  Those  shouts  marked  the  inauguration 
of  the  pretorian  regime.  General  McClellan  and 
other  generals  have  forced  the  President  to  postpone 
the  investigation  into  the  conduct  of  the  slow  and 
of  the  insubordinate  generals,  all  three  special  fa 
vorites  of  McClellan.  General  McClellan  appeared 
before  the  soldiers  surrounded  by  his  old  identical 
staff,  by  a  tross  of  flatterers,  and,  Oh  heavens  !  in  the 
cortege  Senator  Wilson !  Oh,  sancta  not  simplicitas, 
but Oh,  clear-sighted  Republican  ! 

Subsequently,  I  learned  that  Senator  Wilson  was 
present  for  a  moment,  and  only  by  a  pure  accident, 
at  that  ovation. 

Laeszt  Dick  dem  Teufel  bey*m  Haare  packen,  so 
hat  Er  Dich  bey'm  Kopfe,  says  Lessing,  and  so  it 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  265 

may  become  here  with  this  first  success  of  the  pre- 
torians,  or  even  worse  than  pretorians ;  these  here 
are  Yanitschars  of  a  Sultan. 

Pope  and  his  army  accuse  three  generals  of  in 
subordination  and  mutiny  on  the  field  of  battle. 
McClellan  prevents  investigation ;  the  brutal  rule  of 
Yanitschars  is  inaugurated,  thanks  to  you,  Messrs. 
Seward  and  Blair. 

McDowell  sacrificed  to  the  Yanitschars ;  he  is  the 
scapegoat  and  the  victim  to  popular  fallacy,  to  the 
imbecility  of  the  press,  and,  above  all,  to  the  in 
triguers  and  to  the  conspiracy  of  the  mutinous  pets 
of  McClellan.  Weeks  and  weeks  ago,  I  foretold  to 
McDowell  that  such  would  be  his  fate,  and  that  only 
in  after-times  history  will  be  just  towards  him. 

The  country  begins  to  be  inundated  and  opin 
ion  poisoned  by  all  kinds  of  the  most  glaring  lies, 
invented  and  spread  by  the  staffs,  and  the  im 
becile,  blind  partisans  of  McClellan.  Here  are  some 
from  among  the  lies. 

In  January  (oh  hear,  oh  hear  !)  General  McClellan 
with  50,000  men  intended  to  make  a  flying  (oh 
hear,  oh  hear  !)  expedition  to  Richmond,  but  Lincoln 
and  Stanton  opposed  it.  This  lie  divides  itself  into 
two  points.  1st  lie.  In  January,  nobody  opposed 
General  McClellan's  will,  and,  besides,  he  was  sick. 
2d  lie.  If  he  was  so  pugnacious  in  January,  why 
has  he  not  made  with  the  same  number  of  men  a 
flying  expedition  only  to  Centreville,  right  under  his 
OQse? 

Emanating  from  t&e  staff,  such  a  lie  is  sufficient 


266  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

to  show  the  military  capacity  of  those  who  con 
cocted  it. 

Second  lie.  That  the  expedition  to  Yorktown  and 
the  Peninsula  strategy  were  forced  upon  McClellan. 
I  hope  that  the  Americans  have  enough  memory 
left,  and  enough  self-respect  to  recollect  the  truth. 

Further,  the  above  staff  asserts  that,  when  the 
truth  will  be  known  about  the  campaign,  and  the 
fightings  in  the  Chickahominy,  then  justice  will  be 
done  to  McClellan. 

Always  and  everywhere  lost  battles,  bad  and  ig 
norant  generalship,  require  explanations,  justifica 
tions,  and  commentaries.  Well-fought  battles  are 
justified  on  the  spot,  the  same  day,  and  by  results. 
No  one  asks  or  makes  comments  upon  the  fighting 
of  Jackson.  Austerlitz,  Jena,  were  commented  on, 
explained,  some  of  the  chiefs  were  justified,  but  — 
by  Austrian  and  Prussian  commentators. 

Until  to-day  French  writers  discuss,  analyze,  and 
comment  upon  the  fatal  battle  of  Waterloo.  At 
Waterloo  Napoleon  was  in  the  square  of  his  heroic 
guards ;  but  during  the  seven  days'  fighting  on  the 
Chickahominy,  what  regiment,  not  to  say  a  square, 
saw  in  its  midst  the  American  Napoleon  ? 

A  thousand  others,  similar  to  the  above-mentioned 
lies,  will  be  or  are  already  circulated ;  the  mass  of 
the  people  will  use  its  common  sense,  and  the  lies 
must  perish. 

On  September  7th,  Gen.  McClellan  gave  his  word 
to  the  President  to  start  to  the  *army  at  12  o'clock, 
but  started  at  4  P.  M.  with  a  long  train  of  well-packed 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  267 

wagons  for  himself  and  for  his  staff.  To  bo  sure, 
Leo,  Jackson,  and  all  the  other  rebel  chiefs  together, 
have  not  such  a  train ;  if  they  had,  they  would  not 
bo  to-day  on  the  Potomac  and  in  Maryland.  Most 
certainly  those  quick-moving  rebels  start  at  least  an 
hour  earlier  than  they  are  expected  to  do. 

September  9.  —  Up  to  this  day  Mr.  Lincoln 
ought  to  have  discovered  whose  advice  transformed 
him  into  a  standard-bearer  of  the  policy  of  the  New 
York  Herald,  and  made  him  push  the  country  to 
the  verge  of  the  grave ;  and,  nevertheless,  Mr.  Lin 
coln  is  deaf  to  the  voice  of  all  true  and  pure  pat 
riots  who  point  out  the  malefactors. 

Secondary  events  $  as  a  lost  battle,  etc.,  depend 
upon  material  causes ;  but  such  primordial  events 
as  is  the  thorough  miscarriage  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  anti- 
rebellion  policy,  —  such  events  arc  generated  by 
moral  causes. 

Jefferson  Davis,  Lee,  Jackson,  and  all  the  gen 
erals  down  to  the  last  Southern  bush-whacker,  incar 
nate  the  violent  and  hideous  passion  of  slavery,  now 
all-powerful  throughout  the  South.  Here,  Lincoln, 
Seward,  McClellan,  Blair,  Halleck,  etc.,  incarnate 
the  negation  of  the  purest  and  noblest  aspirations 
of  the  North.  Stanton  alone  is  inspired  by  a  na 
tional  patriotic  idea.  No  unity,  no  harmony  between 
the  people  and  the  leaders ;  this  discord  must  gen 
erate  disasters. 

All  over  the  country  the  lie  is  spread  that  the 
army  demanded  the  reappointment  of  McClellan. 
First,  the  three  mutinous  generals  did  it ;  but  not 


268  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER  1862. 

a  Kearney,  the  Bayard  of  America ;  very  likely  not 
Hooker  and  Heintzelman  —  all  of  them  soldiers, 
patriots,  and  men  of  honor ;  nor  very  likely  was  it 
demanded  by  Keyes.  I  do  not  know  positively  what 
was  the  conduct  of  Gen.  Sumner.  Gen.  Burnside 
owes  what  he  is,  glory  and  all,  to  McClellan.  Burn- 
side's  honest  gratitude  and  honest  want  of  judgment 
have  contributed  more  than  anything  else  to  inau 
gurate  the  regime  of  the  pretorians,  to  justify  mu 
tiny.  Halleck's  conduct  in  all  this  is  veiled  in 
mystery  ;  it  is  so  at  least  for  the  present ;  and  as 
truth  will  be  kept  out  of  sight,  the  country  may 
never  know  the  truth  about  those  shameful  proceed 
ings. 

I  learn  that  Heintzelman,  against  his  own  judg 
ment,  agreed  in  the  McClellan  movement.  Well,  if 
this  is  true,  then,  of  course,  the  army,  for  a  long 
time  misled  by  uninterrupted  intrigues,  misled  by 
papers  such  as  the  New  York  Herald  and  the  Times, 
—  the  army  or  the  soldiers  mightily  contributed  to 
bring  about  this  fatal  crisis.  An  army  composed  of 
intelligent  Americans,  blinded,  stultified  by  intrigu 
ers,  declares  for  a  general  who  never,  up  to  this 
day,  covered  with  glory  his  or  the  army's  name. 
After  this  nothing  more  is  to  be  expected,  and  no 
disaster  on  the  field  of  battle,  no  dissolution  of  a 
national  principle,  can  astonish  my  mind.  Cursed 
be  those  who  thus  demoralized  the  sound  judgment 
of  the  soldiers  !  Cursed  be  my  personal  experience 
of  men  and  of  things  which  makes  me  despair! 
But  when  an  army  or  soldiers  become  intellectually 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  269 

brought  down  to  such  a  standard,  then  the  holiest 
cause  will  always  be  lost.  Oh  for  a  man  to  save  the 
cause  of  humanity  !  But  if  even  such  a  man  should 
appear,  these  prctorians  will  turn  against  him. 

The  pretorians,  with  the  New  York  Herald  as 
their  flag,  will  soon  finish  with  liberty  at  home. 
McClellan,  Barlow,  the  brothers  Wood,  and  Bennett, 
may  very  soon  be  at  the  helm,  with  the  100,000  pre 
torians  for  support.  Similia  similibus ;  and  here 
disgrace  is  to  cure  disgrace. 

These  helpless  grave-diggers,  above  all,  Scward, 
are  on  the  way  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  England, 
sending  a  flying  gunboat  fleet  under  Wilkcs  into 
the  West  Indian  waters.  At  this  precise  moment  it 
were  better  to  be  very  cautious,  and  rather  watch 
strongly  our  coasts  with  the  same  gunboats. 

September  11. —  A  military  genius  at  once  finds 
out  the  point  where  blows  arc  to  be  struck,  and 
strikes  them  with  lightning-like  speed.  The  rebels 
act  in  this  manner ;  but  what  point  was  found  out, 
what  blows  were  ever  dealt  by  McClellan  ? 

Individuals  similar  to  McClellan  were  idolized  by 
the  Roman  pretorians,  and  this  idolatry  marks  the 
epoch  of  the  utmost  demoralization  and  degradation 
of  the  Roman  empire.  Witnessing  such  a  phenome 
non  in  an  army  of  American  volunteers,  one  must 
give  up  in  despair  any  confidence  in  manhood  and 
in  common  sense. 

The  Journal  of  St.  Petersburg  of  August  6th 
semi-officially  refutes  the  insinuations  that  Russia 
intends  to  recognize  the  South,  or  to  unite  with 


270  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

France  and  England  for  any  such  purpose,  or  for 
mediation.  The  language  of  the  article  is  noble  and 
friendly,  as  is  all  which  up  to  this  day  has  been  done 
by  Alexander  II.  Mr.  Stoeckl,  the  Russian  minis 
ter  here,  considerably  contributes  that  such  sound 
and  friendly  views  on  the  condition  of  our  affairs  are 
entertained  by  the  Russian  Cabinet. 

September  11.  —  Imbeciles  agitate  the  question  of 
mediation.  European  cabinets  will  not  offer  it  now, 
and  nobody,  not  even  the  rebels,  would  accept.  No 
possible  terms  and  basis  exist  for  any  mediation.  A 
Solomon  could  not  find  them  out.  If  Jackson  and 
Lee  were  to  shell  Washington,  then  only  the  foreign 
ministers  may  be  requested  to  step  in  and  to  settle 
the  terms  of  a  capitulation  or  of  an  evacuation. 
The  foreign  ministers  here  could  act  as  mediators 
only  if  asked  ;  not  otherwise.  I  am  sure  it  will 
come  out  that  the  invasion  of  Maryland  by  the 
rebels  is  made  under  the  pressure  exercised  in  Rich 
mond  by  the  Maryland  chivalry  in  the  service  of  the 
rebellion.  These  runaways  probably  promised  an 
insurrection  in  Maryland,  provided  a  rebel  force 
crosses  the  Potomac.  (Wrote  it  to  England.) 

All  around  helplessness  and  confusion.  Consci 
entiously  I  make  all  possible  efforts  to  record  what 
I  believe  to  be  true,  and  then  truth  will  take  care  of 
herself. 

After  the  study  of  the  campaigns  of  Frederick  II., 
above  all,  after  the  study  of  those  marvellous  cam 
paigns,  combinations,  manoeuvres  of  Napoleon,  to 
witness  every  day  the  combinations  of  McClellan  is 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]   *  DIARY.  271 

more  disgusting,  more  nauseous  for  the  mind,  than 
can  be  for  the  stomach  the  strongest  dose  of  emetic. 

The  last  catastrophe  at  Bull  Run  and  at  Manassas 
has  a  slight  resemblance  with  the  catastrophe  at 
Waterloo.  The  conduct  of  the  mutinous  generals 
here  is  similar  to  the  conduct  of  some  of  the  French 
generals  during  the  battle  of  Ligny  and  Quatre- 
Bras.  But  here  was  mutiny,  and  there  demoraliza 
tion  produced  by  general  and  deeply  rooted  and 
fatall}"  unavoidable  causes.  The  demoralization  of 
the  French  generals  came  at  the  end  of  a  terrible 
epoch  of  struggles  and  sacrifices,  of  material  exhaus 
tion,  when  the  faith  in  the  destinies  of  Napoleon 
was  extinct ;  here  mutiny  and  demoralization  seize 
upon  the  newly-born  era. 

September  13. —  What  a  good-natured  people  are 
the  Americans  !  A  regiment  of  Pennsylvania  infan 
try  quartered  for  the  night  on  the  sidewalk  of  the 
streets ;  officers,  of  course,  absent ;  the  poor  sol 
diers  stretched  on  the  stones,  when  so  many  empty 
large  buildings,  when  the  empty  (intellectually  and 
materially  empty)  White  House  could  have  given  to 
the  soldiers  comfortable  night  quarters.  It  can  give 
an  idea  how  they  treat  the  soldiers  in  the  field,  if 
here  in  Washington  they  care  so  little  for  them. 
But  McClellan  has  forty  wagons  for  his  staff,  and 
forty  ambulances  —  no  danger  for  the  latter  to  be 
used.  In  European  armies  aristocratic  officers 
would  not  dare  to  treat  soldiers  in  this  way  —  to 
throw  them  on  the  pavement  without  any  necessity. 

More  than  once  in  my  life,  after  heavy  fighting, 


272  DIARY.  *  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

I  laid  down  the  knapsack  for  a  cushion,  snow  for  a 
mattrass  and  for  a  blanket ;  but  by  the  side  of  the  sol 
diers,  the  generals,  the  staffs,  and  the  officers  shared 
similar  bedsteads. 

I  hear  strange  stories  about  Stanton,  and  about  his 
having  ruefully  fallen  in  McClellan's  lap.  If  so, 
then  one  more  man,  one  more  illusion,  and  one 
more  creed  in  manhood  gone  overboard,  drowned 
in  meanness,  in  moral  cowardice,  and  subserviency. 

The  worshippers  of  strategy  and  of  Gen.  McClel- 
lan  try  to  make  the  public  swallow,  that  the  invest 
ment  of  Richmond,  by  him  was  a  magnificent  display 
of  science,  and  would  have  been  a  success  but  for 
50,000  more  men  under  his  command. 

To  invest  any  place  whatever  is  to  cut  that  place 
from  the  principal,  if  not  from  all  communications 
with  the  country  around,  and  thus  prevent,  or  make 
dangerous  or  difficult,  the  arrival  of  provisions,  of 
support,  etc. 

Our  gunboats,  etc.,  in  the  York  and  the  'James 
rivers  have  virtually  invested  Richmond  on  the  east 
ern  side  ;  but  that  part  of  the  Peninsula  did  not  con 
stitute  the  great  source  of  life  for  the  rebel  army. 
The  principal  life-arteries  for  Richmond  ran  through 
four-fifths  of  a  circle,  beginning  from  the  southern 
banks  of  the  James  river  and  running  to  the  south 
ern  banks  of  the  Rapidan  and  of  the  Rappahan- 
nock.  Through  that  region  men,  material,  provis 
ions  poured  into  Richmond  from  the  whole  South, 
and  that  whole  region  around  Richmond  was  left 
perfectly  open ;  but  strategy  concentrated  its  wisdom 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  273 

on  the  comparatively  indifferent  eastern  side  of  the 
Cnickahominy  marshes,  and  cut  off  the  rebels  from 
—  nothing  at  all. 

September  13. —  General  McClellan,  in  search  of 
the  enemy,  during  the  first  six  days  makes  thirty 
miles !  Finds  the  enemy  near  Hagerstown.  No 
more  time  for  strategy. 

September  14.  —  General  McClellan  telegraphs  to 
General  Halleck  (ineliorcs  ambo)  that  he,  McClel 
lan,  has  "  the  most  reliable  information  that  the 
enemy  is  190,000  strong-  in  Maryland  and  in  Penn 
sylvania,  besides  70,000  on  the  oilier  side  of  the 
Potomac"  (The  same  bosh  about  the  numbers  as 
in  the  Peninsula.) 

The  Generals  Burnside,  Hooker,  Suniner,  Reno, 
fought  the  battle  at  Hagerstown,  and  drove  the 
enemy  before  them.  General  McClellan  reports  a 
victory,  but  expects  the  enemy  to  renew  the  fighting 
next  day  in  a  considerable  force  —  (as  at  Williams- 
burg).  McClellan  telegraphs  to  Halleck,  "Look 
for  an  attack  on  Washington."  The  enemy  retreats 
to  recross  the  Potomac  ! 

September  15.  —  General  Wadsworth  suggested 
to  the  President  one  of  those  bold  movements  by 
which  campaigns  are  terminated  by  one  blow :  "  To 
send  Heintzelman  and  him,  Wadsworth,  with  some 
25,000  men,  to  Gordonsville  (here  and  in  Baltimore 
about  90,000  men),  and  thus  cut  off  the  enemy 
from  Richmond,  and  prevent  him  from  rallying  his 
forces."  But  General  Halleck  opposes  such  a  Mu- 
rat's  dash,  on  account  of  McClellan's  "looked-for 


274  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

attack  on  "Washington  "  —  by  his,  MeClellan's,  imag 
ination. 

September  17. — When  I  wrote  the  above  about 
Wads  Vfor  th  and  Heintzelman,  I  was  under  the  im 
pression  that  the  victory  announced  by  McCIcllan, 
Sept.  14,  was  more  decisive  ;  that  as  he  had  fresh  the 
whole  corps  of  Fitz  John  Porter,  and  the  greatest 
part  of  that  of  Franklin,  and  other  supports  sent 
him  from  "Washington,  he  would  give  no  respite 
io  the  enemy,  and  push  him  into  the  Potomac.  It 
turned  out  differen%. 

The  loss  by  capitulation  of  Harper's  Ferry.  It  is 
a  blow  to  us,  and  very  likely  a  disgraceful  affair, 
not  for  the  soldiers,  but  for  ftie  commanders. 

September  19 .  —  Five  days' fighting.  Our  brave 
Hooker  wounded  ;  tremendous  loss  of  life  on  both 
sides,  and  no  decisive  results.  These  last  battles, 
and  those  on  the  Chickahominy,  that  of  Shiloh, 
in  one  word  all  the  lightings  protracted  throughout 
several  consecutive  days,  are  almost  unexam 
pled  in  history.  These  horrible  episodes  establish 
the  bravery,  the  endurance  of  the  soldiers,  the 
bravery  and  the  ability  of  some  among  the  com 
manders  of  the  corps,  of  the  divisions,  etc.,  and  the 
absence  of  any  generalship  in  the  commander. 

September  20.  —  Until  this  day  Gen.  McClel- 
lan  has  not  published  one  single  detailed  report 
about  any  of  his  operations  since  the  evacuation 
of  Manassas  in  March.  Thus  much  for  the  staff  of 
the  army  of  the  Potomac.  We  shall  see  what 
detailed  report  he  will  publish  of  the  campaign  in 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  275 

Maryland.  McClellan's  bulletins  from  Maryland 
arc  twins  to  his  bulletins  from  the  Peninsula ;  and 
there  may  be  very  little  difference  between  the 
gained  victories.  To-day  he  is  ignorant  of  the 
movements  of  the  enemy,  and  has  more  than  30,- 
000  fresh  troops  in  hand. 

As  in  the  Peninsula,  so  in  Maryland.  Although 
having  nearly  one-third  more  men  than  the  ene 
my,  General  McClellan  never  forced  the  enemy 
to  engage  at  once  its  whole  force,  never  attacked 
the  rebels  on  their  whole  line,  and  never  had  any 
positive  notion  about  the  number  and  the  position  of 
the  opposing  forces. 

The  rebels  had  the  Potomac  in  their  rear ;  our 
army  pressed  them  in  front,  and —  the  rebels  escaped. 

I  appeal  to  such  military  heroes  as  Hooker ;  I 
appeal  to  thousands  of  our  brave  soldiers,  from 
generals  down  to  the  rank  and  file,  and  further  I 
appeal  to  all  women  with  hearts  and  brains  here  and 
in  Europe. 

September  20. —  Gen.  Mansfield  killed  at  the  head 
of  his  brigade.  I  ask  his  forgiveness  for  all  the  criti 
cism  made  upon  him  in  this  diary.  Last  year,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  Gen.  Mansfield  acted  under 
the  orders  of  Gen.  Scott.  This  explains  all. 

As  in  the  slaughters  of  the  Chickahominy,  so  in 
the  Maryland  slaughters,  nobody  hurt  in  McClcllan's 
numerous  staff.  Thank  Heaven  !  Not  only  his  life 
is  charmed,  but  the  charm  extends  over  all  who  sur 
round  him,  —  men  and  beasts. 


276  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

A  malediction  sticks  to  our  cause.  Hooker  badly, 
very  badly  wounded.  Hooker  fought  the  greatest 
number  of  fights, —  was  never  worsted  in  the  Penin 
sula,  nor  in  the  August  disasters,  and  he  alone  has 
the  supreme  honor  of  a  nick-name,  by  the  troopers' 
baptism :  the  Fighting  Joe.  Hooker,  not  McClel- 
lan,  ought  to  command  the  army.  But  no  pestilen 
tial  Washington  clique,  none  of  the  West-Point 
ers,  back  him,  and  the  pets,  the  pretorians,  may 
have  refused  to  obey  his  orders. 

After  the  escape  of  the  rebels  from  Manassas  in 
March,  and  after  the  evacuation  of  Yorktown,  all 
the  intriguers  and  traitors  grouped  around  the  New 
York  Herald,  and  the  imbeciles  around  the  New 
York  Times,  prized  high  the  masterly  strategy  and  its 
bloodless  victories.  Now,  in  dead,  by  powder  and 
disease,  in  crippled,  etc.,  McClellan  destroyed  about 
100,000  men,  and  the  country's  honor  is  bleeding, 
the  country's  cause  is  on  the  verge  of  a  precipice. 

How  rare  are  men  of  civic  heroism,  of  fearless 
civic  courage  ;  men  of  the  creed :  perisse  man  nom 
mais  que  la  patrie  soit  sauvte. 

General  Wadsworth  feels  more  deeply  and  more 
painfully  the  disasters,  nay,  the  disgrace,  of  the 
country,  than  do  almost  all  with  whom  I  meet 
here.  During  the  Congress,  similar  were  the  'feel 
ings  of  Senator  Wade,  Judge  Potter,  and  of 
many  other  Congressmen  in  both  tno  Houses.  So 
fool  Boutwell,  Andrew,  the  Governor  of  Massachu 
setts,  and  I  am  sure  many,  many  over  the  country. 


SEPTEMBER,  1882.]  DIARY.  277 

But  the  sensation-men  and  preachers,  lecturers,  etc.,' 
all  are  to  be     *     *     *     * 

September  22. —  By  Mr.  Seward's  policy  and  by 
McClellan's  strategy  and. war-bulletins  the  bravest 
and  the  most  intelligent  people  became  the  laugh 
ing-stock  of  Europe  and  of  the  world.  And  thus  is 
witnessed  the  hitherto  in  history  unexampled  phe 
nomenon  of  a  devoted  and  brave  people  of  twenty 
millions,  mastering  all  the  wealth  and  the  resources 
of  modern  civilization,  worsted  and  kept  at  bay  by 
four  to  five  million  rebels,  likewise  brave,  but  almost 
beggared,  and  cut  off  from  all  external  communica 
tions. 

Sept.  23.  Proclamation  conditionally  abolishing 
slavery  from  1863.  The  conditional  is  the  last 
desperate  effort  made  by  Mr.  Lincoln  and  by  Mr. 
Seward  to  save  slavery.  Poor  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
obliged  to  strike  such  a  blow  at  his  mammy !  The 
two  statesmen  found  out  that  it.  was  dangerous 
longer  to  resist  the  decided,  authoritative  will  of  the 
masses.  The  words  "  resign,"  "  depose,"  "  im 
peach,"  were  more  and  more  distinct  in  the  popular 
murmur,  and  the  proclamation  was  issued. 

Very  little,  if  any,  credit  is  due  to  Mr.  Lincoln 
or  to  Mr.  Seward  for  having  thus  late  and  reluc 
tantly  legalized  the  stern  will  of  the  immense 
majority  of  the  American  people.  For  the  sake  of 
sacred  truth  and  justice  I  protest  before  civilization, 
humanity,  and  posterity,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr. 
Seward  intrinsically  are  wholly  innocent  of  this 
great  satisfaction  given  to  the  right,  and  to  national 
honpr.  24 


278  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1862, 

The  absurdity  of  colonization  is  preserved  in  the 
proclamation.  How  could  it  have  been  otherwise  ? 

But  if  the  rebellion  is  crushed  before  January 
1st,  1863,  what  then  ?  If  the  rebels  turn  loyal  be 
fore  that  term  ?  Then  the  people  of  the  North  will 
be  cheated.  Happily  for  humanity  and  for  national 
honor,  Mr.  Lincoln's  and  Mr.  Seward's  benevolent 
expectations  will  be  baffled;  the  rebels  will  spurn 
the  tenderly  proffered  leniency;  these  rebels  are  so 
ungrateful  towards  those  who  "  cover  the  weakness 
of  the  insurgents,"  &c.  (See  the  celebrated,  and 
by  the  American  press  much  admired,  despatch  in 
May  or  June,  1862,  Seward  to  Adams.) 

The  proclamation  is  written  in  the  meanest  and 
the  most  dry  routine  style  ;  not  a  word  to  evoke  a 
generous  thrill,  not  a  word  reflecting  the  warm  and 
lofty  comprehension  and  feelings  of  the  immense 
majority  of  the  people  on  this  question  of  emanci 
pation.  Nothing  for  humanity,  nothing  to  humanity. 
Whoever  drew  it,  be  he  Mr.  Lincoln  or  Mr.  Seward, 
it  is  clear  that  the  writer  was  not  in  it  either  with 
his  heart  or  with  his  soul ;  it  is  clear  that  it  was 
done  under  moral  duress,  under  the  throttling  pres 
sure  of  events.  How  differently  Stanton  would 
have  spoken  ! 

General  Wads  worth  truly  says,  that  never  a 
noble  subject  was  more  belittled  by  the  form  in 
which  it  was  uttered. 

Brazilian  m s  are  much  disturbed  by  the 

proclamation. 

Sept.  23.     In  his  answer  to  the  Paisley  Parlia- 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  279 

mcntary  Reform  Association,  Mr.  Scward  complains 
that  the  sympathy  of  Europe  turns  now  for  se 
cession. 

O  Mr.  Sc\vard,Mr.  Seward,  who  is  it  that  contrib 
uted  to  turn  the  current  against  the  cause  of  right 
and  of  humanity  ?  Months  ago  I  and  others  warned 
you ;  the  premonitory  signs  and  the  reasons  of  this 
change  have  been  pointed  out  to  you.  Now  you  slan 
der  Europe,  of  which  you  know  as  little  as  of  the  in 
habitants  of  the  moon.  The  generous  populations 
of  the  whole  of  Europe  expected  and  waited  for  a 
positive,  unhesitating,  clear  recognition  of  human. 
rights;  day  after  day  the  generous  European  minds 
expected  to  see  some  positive,  authoritative  fact  con 
firm  that  lofty  conception  which,  at  the  start  of  this 
rebellion,  they  had  of  the  cause  of  the  North.  But 
the  pure,  generous  tendencies  of  the  American  peo 
ple  became  officially,  authoritatively  misrepresented  ; 
the  public  opinion  in  Europe  became  stuffed  with 
empty  generalizations,  with  official  but  unfulfilled 
prophecies,  and  with  cold  declamations.  Those 
official  generalizations,  prophecies,  and  declama 
tions,  the  supineness  shown  by  the  administration  in 
the  recognition  of  human  rights,  all  this  began  to  be 
considered  in  Europe  as  being  sanctioned  by  the 
whole  American  people ;  and  generous  European 
hearts  and  minds  began  to  avert  in  disgust  from  the 
misrepresented  cause  of  the  North. 

Two  issues  are  before  history,  before  the  philosophy 
of  history,  and  before  the  social  progress  of  our  race. 
The  first  issue  is  the  struggle  between  the  pure 


280  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

democratic  spirit  embodied  in  the  Free  States,  and 
the  fetid  remains  of  the  worst  part  of  humanity 
embodied  in  the  South.  The  second  issue  is  between 
the  perennial  vitality  of  the  principle  of  self-govern 
ment  in  the  people,  and  the  transient  and  acci 
dental  results  of  the  self-government  as  manifested  in 
Mr.  Lincoln,  in  Mr.  Seward,  and  their  followers.  I 
hope  that  this  Diary  will  throw  some  light  on  the 
second  issue,  and  vindicate  the  perennial  against 
the  transient  and  the  accidental. 

Sept.  24.  If  the  events  of  this  war  should  pro 
gress  as  they  are  foreshadowed  in  the  proclamation  of 
September  22,  then  the  application  of  this  proclama 
tion  may  create  inextricable  complications.  Not  only 
in  one  and  the  same  State,  but  in  one  and  the  same 
district,  nay,  even  in  the  same  township,  after  Janu 
ary  1st,  1863,  may  be  found  Africo-Americans,  por 
tions  of  whom  are  emancipated,  the  others  in  bondage. 
But  the  stern  logic  of  events  will  save  the  illogical, 
pusillanimous,  confused  half-measure,  as  it  now  is. 
(OSteffens!) 

General  McClellan  confesses  that  if  Hooker  had 
not  been  wounded,  then  the  road,  by  which  the  re 
treat  of  the  rebels  might  have  been  cut  off,  would 
have  been  taken.  Suclf  a  declaration  is  the  most 
emphatic  recognition  of  Hooker's  superior  military 
capacity.  Seldom,  however,  has  the  loss  of  a  general 
commanding  only  en  seconder  a  wing,  as  did  Hooker, 
decided  the  fortunes  of  the  day.  Why  did  not 
McClellan  take  the  road  himself,  after  Hooker  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  field  ?  When  Desaix,  Bcssieres, 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  281 

and  Lannes  fell,  Napoleon  nevertheless  won  the 
respective  battles. 

Sept.  25.  The  military  position  of  the  rebels  in 
Winchester  seems  to  me  one  of  the  best  they  ever 
held  in  this  war.  Winchester  is  the  centre  of  which 
Washington,  Harper's  Ferry,  Williamsport,  nay, 
even  Wheeling,  seem  to  be  the  circumference. 
Our  army  under  McClellan  is  almost  beyond  the 
circle,  crosses  not  the  Potomac,  and  is  now  only  to 
watch  the  enemy.  So  much  for  the  great  McClel- 
lan's  victory.  Truly,  the  enemy  may  be  taken  in 
the  rear,  its  communications  with  Richmond,  <fcc.,cut 
off  and  destroyed  ;  but  we  are  safe  on  the  Potomac, 
and  this  is  sufficient.  McClellan  is  the  man  of  large 
conceptions  and  rapid  execution.  The  best  generals 
are  /tors  de  combat;  as  to  ILilleck,  0,  it  is  not  to 
think,  not  to  speak.  Well,  I  may  be  mistaken,  but 
I  clearly  see  all  this  on  the  map  of  Virginia. 

Sept.  25.  The  West  Point  spirit  persecutes  Sigel 
with  the  utmost  rage.  The  West  Point  spirit  seem 
ingly  wishes  to  have  Sigcl  dishonored,  defeated, 
even  if  the  country  be  thereby  destroyed.  The 
Ilallecks,  £c.,  keep  him  in  a  subordinate  position; 
three  days  ago  his  corps  was  a  little  over  seven 
thousand,  almost  no  cavalry,  and  most  of  the 
artillery  without  horses,  and  he  in  front. 

The  more  I  scrutinize  the  President's  thus  called 
emancipation  proclamation,  the  more  cunning  and 
less  good  will  and  sincerity  I  find  therein.  I  hope 
I  am  mistaken.  But  the  proclamation  is  only  an 
act  of  the  military  power,  —  is  evoked  by  military 
24* 


282  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

necessity,  —  and  not  a  civil,  social,  humane  act  of 
justice  and  equity. 

The  only  good  to  be  derived  from  this  proclama 
tion  is,  that  for  the  first  time  the  word  freedom,  and 
a  general  comprehension  of"  emancipation,"  appear 
in  an  official  act  under  the  sanction  of  the  formula, 
and  are  inaugurated  into  the  official,  the  constitutional 
life  of  the  nation.  In  itself  it  is  therefore  a  great 
event  for  a  people  so  strictly  attached  to  legality  and 
to  formulas. 

I  do  not  recollect  to  have  read  in  the  history  of 
any  great,  or  even  of  a  small  captain,  —  above  all 
of  such  a  one  when  between  thirty-four  and  thirty- 
six  years  old,  —  that  he  followed  the  army  under 
his  command  in  a  travelling  carriage  and  six,  when 
the  field  of  operations  extended  from  fifty  to  sev 
enty  miles.  Three  cheers  for  McClellan,  for  his 
carriage  and  six  ! 

HOW  THE  GREAT  CAPTAIN  WAS  TO  CATCH  THE  WHOLE 
REBEL  ARMY  IN  MANASSAS,  IN  FEBRUARY  AND 
MARCH,  A.  D.  1862. 

It  was  to  have  been  done  by  a  brilliant  and  un 
surpassable  stroke  of  combined  strategy,  tactics, 
manoeuvres,  marches,  and  swimmings ;  also  on  land 
and  water.  (0,  hear  !  0,  hear !  ) 

As  every  body  knows,  the  rebels  were  encamped 
in  the  so  fearful  strongholds  of  Centreville  and 
Manassas,  all  the  time  fooling  the  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  federal  army  in  relation  to  their 
immense  numbers.  To  attack  the  rebels  in  front, 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  283 

* 

or  to  surround  them  by  the  Occoquan  and  Brents- 
ville,  would  have  been  a  too  —  simple  operation; 
by  a  special,  an  immense,  space-embracing  anaconda 
strategy,  the  rebel  army  was  to  be  cut  off  from  the 
whole  of  rebcldom,  and  forced  to  surrender  en  masse 
to  the  inventor  of  (the  not  yet  patented,  I  hope) 
bloodless  victories.  To  accomplish  such  an  im 
mense  result,  a  fleet  of  transports  was  already  or 
dered  to  be  gathered  at  Annapolis.  On  them  in 
ten  or  fifteen  days  (0,  hear !)  an  army  of  fifty  to 
sixty  thousand,  most  completely  equipped,  was  to 
be  embarked,  plus  forty  thousand  in  Washington, 
all  this  to  sail  under  the  personal  command  of  the 
general- in-chief,  and  sail  towards  Richmond.  Rich 
mond  taken,  the  rebel  army  at  Manassas  would  have 
been  cut  off,  and  obliged  to  surrender  on  any  terms. 

The  above  splendid  conception  was,  and  still  is, 
peddled  among  the  army  and  among  the  nation  by 
the  admirers  of,  and  the  devotees  of,  anaconda 
strategy. 

The  expedition  was  to  land  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Tappahannock,  a  small  port,  or  rather  a  creek,  used 
for  shipping  of  a  small  quantity  of  tobacco.  As  the 
port  or  creek  has  only  some  small  attempts  at 
wharves,  the  landing  of  such  an  enormous  army,  with 
parks  of  artillery,  with  cavalry,  pontoons,  and  ma 
terial  for  constructing  bridges,  —  the  landing  would 
not  have  been  executed  in  weeks,  if  in  months  ;  but 
the  projector  of  the  plan,  perfectly  losing  the  notion 
of  time,  calculated  for  ten  days.  From  that  port 
i\\e,Jlying  expedition  was  to  march  directly  on  Rich- 


D 1  A  R  T .  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

x 

mond  through  a  country  having  only  common  field 
and  dirt  roads,  and  this  in  a  season  when  all  roads 
generally  are  in  an  impassable  condition,  through  a 
country  intersected  by  marshy  streams,  principal 
among  them  the  Matapony  and  the  Pamunkey  —  to 
march  towards  Richmond  and  the  Chickahominy 
marshes.  It  seems  that  Chickahominy  exercised  an 
attractive,  Armida-like  charm  on  the  great  strate- 
gian.  An  army  loaded  with  such  immense  trains 
would  have  sufficiently  destroyed  all  the  roads,  and 
rendered  them  impassable  for  itself;  and  the  flying 
expedition  would  at  once  have  been  transformed 
into  an  expedition  sticking  in  the  mud,  simikir  -to 
that  subsequent  in  the  peninsula.  The  enemy  was 
in  possession  of  Fredericksburg  and  of  the  railroad 
to  Hanover  Court  House  on  one  flank,  and  of  all 
the  best  roads  north  of  and  through  Chickahominy 
marshes  on  the  other  flank.  T\\&  flying-  expedition 
would  have  had  for  base  Tappahannock  and  a  dirt 
road.  0  strategy  !  0  stuff! 

The  much-persecuted  General  McDowell  exposed 
the  worse  than  crudity  of  the  brilliant  conception. 
By  doing  this,  McDowell  saved  the  country,  the  ad 
ministration,  and  the  strategian  from  immense  losses 
and  from  a  nameless  shame.  It  is  due  to  the  people 
that  the  administration  lay  before  the  public  the 
scheme  and  the  refutation.  A  look  on  the  map  of 
Virginia  must  convince  even  the  simplest  mind  of 
the  brilliancy  of  this  conception. 

During  all  this  time  spent  in  such  masterly  opera 
tions,  the  rebel  army  in  Manassas  was  to  quietly 


SEPTEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  285 

look  on,  to  wait,  and  not  move,  not  retreat  en  Rich 
mond.  Early  in  March,  at  once  the  rebel  army, 
ahvays  undisturbed,  quietly  disappeared  from  Ma- 
nassas  ;  and  this  is  the  best  evidence  of  the  depth 
of  that  brilliant  combination,  peddled  under  the 
name  of  the  flying*  expedition  to  Richmond,  pro 
jected  for  January,  February,  or  March.  I  appeal 
to  the  verdict  of  sound  reason ;  the  parties  are, 
common  sense  versus  anaconda  strategy  and  blood 
less  victories. 

Sept.  "21.  The  proclamation  issued  by  the  war 
power  of  the  President  is  not  yet  officially  notified 
to  those  who  alone  are  to  execute  it  —  the  armies 
and  their  respective  commanders.  Who  is  to  be 
taken  in  ?  The  papers  publish  a  detailed  account 
of  an  interview  between  the  President  and  an  anti- 
slavery  deputation  from  Chicago.  The  deputation 
asked  for  stringent  measures  in  the  spirit  of  the  law 
of  Congress,  which  orders  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves  held  by  the  rebels.  The  President  combated 
the  reasons  alleged  by  the  deputation,  and  tried  to 
establish  the  danger  and  the  inefficiency  of  the 
measure.  A  few  days  after  the  above-mentioned  de 
bate,  the  President  issued  the  proclamation  of  Sep 
tember  22.  Are  his  heart,  his  soul,  and  his  convic 
tions  to  be  looked  for  in  the*  debate,  or  in  the  proc 
lamation  ? 

The  immense  majority  of  the  people,  from  the  in 
most  of  its  heart,  greets  the  proclamation  — a  proof 
how  deeply  and  ardently  was  felt  its  necessity.  The 
gratitude  shown  to  Mr.  Lincoln  for  having  thus  exe- 


28(5  DIARY.  [SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

cutcd  the  will  of  his  master,  —  this  gratitude  is  the 
best  evidence  how  this  whole  people  is  better,  has  a 
loftier  comprehension  of  right  and  duty,  than  have 
its  elected  servants. 

McClellan  already  speaks  that  the  campaign  is 
finished,  and  the  army  is  to  go  into  winter  quarters. 
If  the  people,  if  the  administration,  and  if  the  army 
will  stand  this,  then  they  will  justly  deserve  the 
scorn  of  the  whole  civilized  and  uncivilized  werld. 
But  with  such  civil  and  military  chiefs  all  is  pos 
sible,  all  may  be  expected  to  be  included  in  their 
programme  of — vigorous  operations. 

Sept.  28.  For  some  weeks  I  watch  a  conspiracy 
of  the  West  Pointers,  of  the  commanders-iii-chief,  of 
the  staffs,  and  of  the  double  know-nothing  cliques 
united  against  Sigel.  The  aim  seems  to  be  to  put 
Sigel  and  his  purposely-reduced  and  disorganized 
forces  in  such  a  condition  and  position  that  he  may 
be  worsted  or  destroyed  by  the  enemy.  To  avoid 
dishonoring  the  forces  under  him,  to  avoid  exposing 
them  to  slaughter,  and  to  avoid  being  thus  himself 
dishonored,  Sigel  ought  to  resign,  and  make  public 
the  reasons  of  his  resignation.  A  few  days  ago,  I 
wrote  and  warned  the  Evening  Post;  but  —  but  — 

The  Richmond  papers  confirm  what  I  supposed 
concerning  the  motives-winch  pushed  the  rebel  army 
across  the  Potomac.  As  the  Marylanders  rose  not 
in  arms,  and  joined  not  the  rebel  army,  the  invaders 
had  nothing  else  to  do  but  to  retreat  and  to  recross 
the  Potomac.  McClellan  ought  to  have  thrown  them 
into  the  river,  which  Hooker,  if  not  wounded,  would 
have  done,  or  if  he  had  the  command  of  our  army. 


SEPTEMBER,  1362.]  DIARY.  287 

The  rebels  would  have  retreated  into  Virginia, 
even  without  being  attacked  by  McClellan,  even  if 
he  only  followed  them,  say  at  one  day's  distance. 
Not  having  destroyed  the  rebels,  McClellan,  in  real 
ity,  and  from  the  military  stand  point,  accomplished 
very  little  —  near  to  nothing.  Hooker  estimates  the 
rebel  force,  at  the  utmost,  at  eighty  thousand  men, 
and  that  is  all  that  they  could  have.  McClellan 
had  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand. 
And  —  and  he  is  to  be  considered  the  savior  of 
Maryland  and  of  Pennsylvania.  0,  good  American 
people !  The  genuine  Napoleon  won  all  his  great 
battles  against  armies  which  considerably  outnum 
bered  his. 

Mr.  So  ward  menaces  England  with  issuing  letters 
of  marque  against  the  Southern  privateers.  The 
menace  is  ridiculous,  because  it  will  not  be  carried 
out,  and,  if  carried  out,  it  will  become  still  more 
ridiculous  ;  it  would  be  a  very  poor  compliment  to 
the  navy  to  use  the  whole  power  of  private  enter 
prise  against  a  few  rovers,  and  it  would  be  an  offi 
cial  recognition  of  the  rebels  in  the  condition  of  bei- 

O 

ligercnts.    Quousque  tandem  —  0  SEWARD  —  abutere 
patientiam  nostram  ? 

Sept.  30.  Nearly  three  weeks  after  the  battle  of 
Antietam,  General  McClellan  publishes  what  he 
and  they  call  a  report  of  his  operations  in  Mary 
land  ;  in  all  not  twenty  lines,  and  devoted  princi 
pally  to  establish  —  on  probabilities —  the  numerical 
losses  of  the  enemy.  The  report  is  a  fit  pendant  to 
his  bulletins ;  is  excellent  for  bunkum,  and  to  make 
other  people  justly  laugh  at  us. 


288  DIARY.  [OCTOBER  1862. 


OCTOBER,    1862. 

Costly  Infatuation  —  The  do-nothing  strategy  —  Cavalry  on  lame  horses 
—  Bayonet  charges — Antietam — Effect  of  the  proclamation  —  Disas 
ters  in  the  West  —  The  abolitionists  not  originally  hostile  to  McClellan  — 
Helplessness  in  the  War  Department  —  Devotedness  of  the  people  — 
McClellan  and  the  proclamation  — Wilkes  — Colonel  Key  — Routine  en 
gineers —  Rebel  raid  into  Pennsylvania  —  Stanton's  sincerity  —  O,  un- 
fighting  strategians!  —  The  administration  a  success  —  De  gustibus — • 
Stuart's  raid  — West  Point— St.  Domingo  — Tie  President's  letter  to 
McClellan  —  Broad  church  —  The  elections  —  The  Republican  party 
gone  — The  remedy  at  the  polls  — McClellan  wants  to  be  relieved  — 
Mediation  —  Compromise  —  The  rhetors.  —  The  optimists  —  The  for 
eigners —  Scott  and  Buchanan  —  Gladstone  —  Foreign  opinion  and  ac 
tion  —  Both  the  extremes  to  be  put  down  —  Spain  — Fremont's  campaign 
against  Jackson  —  Seward's  circular  —  General  Scott's  gift  —  "  O,  could 
I  go  to  a  camp  I  "  —  McClellan  crosses  the  Potomac  —  Prays  for  rain  — 
Fevers  decimate  the  regiments  —  Martindale  and  Fitz  John  Porter  — 
The  political  balance  to  be  preserved  —  New  regiments  —  O,  poor 
country ! 

WITH  what  a  bloody  sacrifice  of  men  this  people 
pays  for  its  infatuation  in  McClellan,  for  the  moral 
cowardice  of  its  official  leaders,  and  the  intrigues  and 
the  imbecility  of  the  regulars,  of  some  among  the 
West  Pointers,  of  traitors  led  by  the  New  York 
Herald,  by  the  World,  and  by  certain  Unionists  on 
the  outside,  and  secessionists  at  heart !  All  these 

* 

combined  nourish  the  infatuation.  All  things  com 
pared,  Napoleon  cost  not  so  much  .to  the  French 
people,  and  at  least  Napoleon  paid  it  in  glory.  Miiid 


OCTOBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  289 

and  heart  sicken  to  witness  all  this  here.  The 
question  to-day  is,  not  to  strengthen  other  generals, 
as  Heintzelmaii  and  Sigel,  and  to  take  the  enemy 
in  the  rear,  but  to  give  a  chance  to  McClellan  to 
win  the  ever-expected,  and  not  yet  by  him  won, 
great  battle.  McClellan  continually  calls  for  more 
men  ;  all  the  vital  forces  of  the  people  are  absorbed 
by  him  ;  and  when  he  has  large  numbers,  he  is  in 
capable  of  using  and  handling  them  ;  so  it  was  at 
the  Chickahominy,  so  it  was  at  Aiitietam.  In  the 
way  that  McClellan  acts  now,  lie  may  use  up  all  the 
available  forces  of  the  people,  if  nobody  has  the 
courage  to  speak  out  ;  besides,  any  warning  voice 
is  drowned  in  the  treacherous  intrigues  of  the 
clique,  in  imbecility  and  infatuation. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  governors,  at  the  various 
public  conventions,  in  the  thus  called  public  reso 
lutions  —  platforms,  in  one  word  —  wherever,  in  any 
way.  North,  West,  and  East,  the  public  life  of  the 
people  has  made  its  voice  heard  :  a  vigorous  prosecu 
tion  of  the  war  was,  and  is,  earnestly  recommended 
to  the  administration.  All  this  will  be  of  no  avail. 
By  this  time,  by  bloody  and  bitter  experience, 
the  American  people  ought  to  have  learned  it. 
With  his  civil  and  military  aids  and  lieutenants, 
as  the  McClellans,  the  Hallecks,  the  Sewards,  Mr. 
Lincoln  has  been  at  work ;  and  at  the  best,  they 
have  shown  their  utter  incapacity,  if  not  ill-will,  to 
carry  the  war  on  vigorously  and  upon  strictly  mili 
tary  principles.  Many  persons  in  Washington  know 
that  Mr.  iSeward  last  winter  firmly  backed  the  do- 
25 


290  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

nothing-  strategy,  in  the  firm  belief  that  the  rebels 
would  be  worried  out,  and  submit  without  fighting. 
To  those  statesmen  and  Napoleons,  Carnots,  &c., 
it  is  as  impossible  to  manoeuvre  with  rapidity,  to 
strike  boldly  and  decidedly,  as  to  dance  on  their 
well-furnished  heads.  Only  such  a  good-natured 
people  as  the  Americans  can  expect  something  from 
that  whole  cater  ca.  To  expect  from  Mr.  Lincoln's 
Napoleons,  Carnots,  <fcc.,  vigorous  and  rapid  mili 
tary  operations,  is  the  same  as  to  mount  cavalry  on 
thoroughly  lame  horses,  and  order  it  to  charge  d 
fond  de  train. 

The  worshippers  of  McClellan  peddle  that  the 
Antietam  victory  became  neutralized  because  the 
enemy  fell  back  on  its  second  and  third  line.  What 
ever  may  be  in  this  falling  back  on  lines,  and  ac 
cepting  all  as  it  is  represented,  one  thing  is  certain, 
that  when  commanders  win  victories,  generally  they 
give  no  time  to  the  enemy  to  fall  back  in  order  on 
its  second  and  third  lines.  But  every  thing  gets  a 
new  stamp  under  the  new  Napoleon.  A  few  hours 
after  the  Antietam  battle,  General  McClellan  tele 
graphed  that  he  "  knew  not  if  the  enemy  retreated 
into  the  interior  or  to  the  Potomac."  0,  0  ! 

Many  from  among  the  European  officers  here 
have  some  experience  of  the  manoeuvring  of  large 
bodies — experience  acquired  on  fields  of  battle,  and 
on  reviews,  and  those  camp  manoeuvres  annually 
practised  all  over  Europe.  In  this  way  the  Eu 
ropean  officers,  more  or  less,  have  the  coup  d'ceil 
for  space  and  for  the  terrain,  so  necessary  when  ail 


OCTOBER,  1362.]  DIARY.  291 

army  is  to  be  put  in  positions  on  a  field  of  tattle, 
and  which  coup  (.Vail  few  young  American  officers 
had  the  occasion  to  acquire.  If  judiciously  selected 
for  the  duties  of  the  staffs,  such  European  officers 
would  he  of  use  and  support  to  generals  hut  for  jeal 
ousy  and  the  West  Point  cliques. 

During  this  whole  war  I  hear  every  body,  but 
above  all  the  West  Point  wiseacres  and  strategians, 
assert  that  charges  with  the  bayonet  and  hand-to 
hand  fighting  are  exceedingly  rare  occurrences  in 
the  course  of  any  campaign.  It  is  useless  to  speak 
to  all  those  great  judges  of  experience  and  of 
history. 

In  the  account  of  the  battles  of  Ligny  and  of 
Waterloo,  Thiers  mentions  four  charges  with  the 
bayonet  and  hand-to-hand  fighting  at  Ligny,  and 
nine  at  Waterloo,  wherein  one  was  made  by  the 
English,  one  was  made  by  Prussians  and  by  French, 
and  one  by  the  French  with  bayonet  against  English 
cavalry.  In  1831  the  Poles  used  the  bayonet  more 
than  it  was  used  in  any  one  campaign  known  in 
history.  0,  West  Point ! 

It  deserves  to  be  noticed  that  the  conspirators 
against  Pope  and  McDowell,  and  the  pet  pretoriuns 
of  September  G  and  7,  distinguished  themselves  not 
very  much  in  the  battle  of  Antietam.  Hooker  com 
manded  McDowell's  corps. 

To  the  number  of  evils  inflicted  upon  this  country 
by  the  McClellan  infatuation,  must  be  added  the  fact 
that  many  young  men,  with  otherwise  sound  intel 
lects,  have  been  taken  in,  stultified,  poisoned  beyond 


292  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

cure,  by  high-sou nding  words,  as  strategy,  all-em 
bracing  scientific  combinations,  <fcc. —  words  identi 
fied  with  incapacity,  defeats,  and  intrigue. 

In  all  probability,  Hooker  alone,  when  he  fought, 
had  a  fixed  plan  at  the  Antietam  battle.  As  for  a  gen 
eral  plan,  aiming  either  to  throw  the  enemy  into  the 
river,  or  to  cut  him  from  the  river,  or  to  accomplish 
something  final  and  decisive,  seemingly  no  such 
plan  existed.  It  looks  as  if  they  had  ignored,  at  the 
headquarters,  what  kind  of  positions  were  occupied 
by  the  enemy ;  and  the  only  purpose  seems  to  have 
been  to  fight,  but  without  having  any  preconceived 
plan.  This,  at  least,  is  the  conclusion  from  the 
manner  in  which  the  battle  was  fought.  If  any 
plan  had  existed,  the  brave  army  would  have  exe 
cuted  it ;  but  the  enemy  retreated  in  order,  and 
rather  unmolested.  As  always,  so  this  time,  the 
bravery  of  the  army  did  every  thing ;  and,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  the  generalship  did — nothing. 

Oct.  4.  ,  The  proclamation  of  September  22 
may  not  produce  in  Europe  the  effect  and  the  en 
thusiasm  which  it  might  have  evoked  if  issued  a  year 
ago,  as  an  act  of  justice  and  of  self-conscientious 
force,  as  an  utterance  of  the  lofty,  pure,  and  ardent 
aspirations  and  will  of  a  high-minded  people.  Eu 
rope  may  see  now  in  the  proclamation  an  action  of 
despair  made  in  tiie  duress  of  events ;  (and  so  it  is  in 
reality  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  Seward,  and  their  squad.) 
And  in  this  way,  a  noble  deed,  outpouring  from  the 
soul  of  the  people,  is  reduced  to  pygmy  and  mean 

proportions  by^ .  The  name  is  on  every  body's 

lips. 


OCTOBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  293 

But  it  was  impossible  to  issue  this  proclamation 
last  year  ;  at  that  time  the  master-spirit  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  administration  emphatically  assured  the  di 
plomats  that  the  Union  will  be  preserved,  were 
slavery  —  to  ride  in  Boston. 

The  continued  disasters  in  the  West  can  easily 
be  explained  by  the  fact,  that  those  rotten  skele 
tons,  Crittenden,  Davis,  and  Wickliffe  control  the 
operations  of  the  generals. 

Among'  the  countless  lies  peddled  by  McClellan's 
worshippers,  the  most  enormous  and  the  most  impu 
dent  is  that  one  by  which  they  attempt  to  explain, 
what  in  (heir  lingo  they  call,  the  hostility  of  the 
abolitionists  towards  McClellan.  Concerning1  this 
matter,  I  can  speak  icith  perfect  knowledge  of 
almost  alt  the,  circumstances. 

Not  one  abolitionist  of  whatever  hue,  not  one 
republican  whatever,  was  in  any  way  troubled  or 
thought  about  the  political  convictions  of  General 
McClellan  at  the  time  when  he  was  put  at  the  head 
of  the  army.  All  the  abolitionists  and  republicans, 
who  then  earnestly  wished,  and  now  ivish,  to  have 
the  rebellion  crushed,  expected  General  McClellan 
to  do  it  by  quick,  decisive,  soldier-like,  military 
operations,  manoeuvres,  and  fights.  Senators  Wade, 
Chandler,  Trumbull,  Sfc.,  in  October,  1861,  princi 
pally  aided  McClellan  to  become  independent  of 
General  Scott.  When,  however,  weeks  and,  months 
elapsed  without  any  soldier-like  action,  manifesta 
tion,  or  enterprise  whatever,  all  those  who  were  in 
earnest  began  to  feel  uneasy  >  began  to  murmur, 
25* 


294  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

not  in  reference  to  any- political  opinions ,  whatever, 
held  by  General  McClellan,  but  solely  and  exclu 
sively  on  account  of  his  military  svpineness.  All 
those  who  ardently  wished,  and  ivish,  that  neither 
slaveholders  nor  slavery  be  hurt  in  any  way,  such 
ones  early  grouped  themselves  around  General 
McClellan,  believing-  to  have  found  in  him  the 
man  after  their  own  heart.  That  cesspool  of  all 
infamies,  the  New  York  Herald,  became  the  mouth 
piece  of  all  the  like  hypocrites.  They  and  the  Her- 
aid  iv ere  the  first  to  pervert  and  to  misrepresent  the 
indignation  evoked  by  the  do-nothing  or  nobody-hurt 
strategy,  and  to  call  it  the  abolition  outcry  against 
their  fetish. 

Scarcely  will  it  be  believed  what  disorder,  what 
helplessness,  and  what  incapacity  rule  paramount 
in  the  expedition  of  any  current  business  in  the 
strictly  military  part  of  the  War  Department.  It 
is  worse  than  any  imaginable  red-tape  and  circum 
locution.  And  all  this,  being  considered  a  spe 
ciality  and  a  technicality,  is  in  the  exclusive  hands 
of  the  adjutant  general,  a  master  spirit  among  the 
West  Pointers.  Generally,  all  relating  to  the  thus 
celebrated  organization  of  the  army  is  an  exclusive 
work  of  the  West  Point  wisdom  —  is  handled  by 
West  Pointers  ;  and,  nevertheless,  the  general  com 
prehension  of  all  details  in  relation  to  an  army, 
how  it  is  to  be  handled,  all  the  military  details  of 
responsibility,  of  higher  discipline,  &c.,  all  this  is 
confusion,  and  strikes  with  horror  any  one  either 
familiar  with  such  matters  or  using  freely  his  sound 


OCTOBER,  1862.]  D I A  E  Y .  295 

sense.  A  narrow  routine  which  may  have  l»eefi 
innocuous  with  an  army  of  sixteen  thousand  with 
General  Scott  and  in  peace,  became  highly  mis 
chievous  when  the  army  increased  more  than  fifty 
times,  and  the  war  raged  furiously.  All  this  confu 
sion  is  specially  produced  by  the  wiseacres  and  doc 
tors  of  routine.  Undoubtedly  it  reacts  on  the  army, 
and  shows  of  what  use  for  the  country  is,  and  was, 
that  whole  old  nursery. 

Wherever  one  turns  his  eyes,  every  where  a  deep 
line  separates  the  patriotic  activity  of  the  people 
from  the  official  activity.  With  the  people  all  is 
sacrifice,  devotion,  grandeur,  and  purity  of  purpose, 
by  great  and  small,  by  rich  and  poor,  and  with  the 
poor,  if  possible,  even  more  than  with  the  rich. 
With  the  highest  and  higher  officials  it  is  either 
weakness,  or  egotism,  or  coolness,  or  intrigue,  or 
ignorance,  or  helplessness.  The  exceptions  are  few, 
and  have  been  repeatedly  pointed  out. 

Oct.  S.  General  McClellan's  order  to  the  army 
concerning  the  President's  proclamation  shows  up 
the  man.  Not  a  word  about  the  object  in  the 
proclamation,  but  rather  unveiled  insinuations  that 
the  army  is  dissatisfied  with  emancipation,  and  that 
it  may  mutiny.  The  army  ought  to  feel  highly 
honored  by  such  insinuations  in  that  lengthy  dis 
quisition  about  his  (McClellan's)  position  and  the 
duties  of  the  army.  For  the  honor  of  the  brave, 
armed  citizen-patriots  it  *can  be  emphatically  as 
serted  that  the  patriotic  volunteers  better  know 
their  duties  than  do  those  who  preach  to  them. 


296  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

Some  suspect  that  Mr.  Seward  drew  the  paper  for 
McClellan,  but  I  am  sure  this  cannot  be.  It  may 
have  been  done  by  Bennett  or  some  other  of  the 
Herald,  or  by  Barlow.  If  this  order  is  the  result 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  visit  \o  the  camp,  and  of  a  trans 
action  with  Mac-Napoleon,  then  the  President  has 
not  thereby  increased  the  dignity  of  his  presidential 
character. 

Wilkes's  Spirit  of  the  Times  incommensurably 
towers  above  the  New  York  Press  by  its  dauntless 
patriotism  ;  by  its  clear,  broad,  and  deep  compre 
hension  of  the  condition  of  the  country. 

Colonel  Key's  disclosures  concerning  the  McClel- 
lan-Halleck  programme,  not  to  destroy  the  rebels 
and  the  rebellion  until  the  next  presidential  elec 
tion,  are  throttled  by  the  dismissal  of  the  colo 
nel.  But  what  he  said,  if  put  by  the  side  of  the 
words  of  the  order  to  the  army,  that  "  the  remedy 
for  political  errors,  if  any  are  committed,  is  to 
be  found  only  in  the  action  of  the  people  at  the 
polls,"  —  all  this  ought  to  open  even  the  most 
obtuse  intellects. 

Poor  (Carlyle  fashion)  old  Greeley  hurrahs  for 
McClellan  and  for  the  order  No.  163  to  the  army. 
0  for  new  and  young  men  to  swim  among  new  and 
young  events ! 

Oct.  11.  Will  any  body  in  this  country  have  the 
patriotic  courage  to  reform  the  army  ?  that  is,  to 
dismiss  from  the  service  the  West  Point  clique  in 
Washington  and  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac.  Such 
a  proof  of  strong  will  cannot  be  expected  from  the 


OCTOBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  297 

President ;  but  perhaps  Congress  may  show  it. 
Those  first  and  second  scholars  or  graduates  from 
West  Point  are  all  routine  engineers ;  and  who 
ever  heard  of  whole  armies  commanded,  moved, 
and  manoeuvred  by  engineers  ?  American  inven 
tion  ;  but  not  to  be  patented  for  Europe. 

Oct.  11.  The  rebel  raid  into  Pennsylvania, 
under  the  nose  of  McClellan.  Is  there  any  thing 
in  the  world  capable  of  opening  this  people's  eyes  ? 

I  doubt  if  at  any  time,  and  in  the  life  of  any 
great  or  small  people,  there  existed  such  a  gal 
axy  of  civil  and  military  rulers,  chiefs,  and  lead 
ers,  stripped  of  nobler  manhood,  as  are  the  great 
men  here.  The  blush  of  honor  never  burned  their 
cheeks!  0,  the  low  politicians!  Some  persons 
doubt  Stanton's  sincerity  in  his  dealings  with  indi 
viduals.  I  am  not  a  judge  thereof;  but  were  it  so, 
it  can  easily  be  forgiven  if  he  only  remains  sincere 
and  true  to  the  cause. 

One  is  amazed  and  even  aghast  at  the  impudence 
of  the  McClellan  and  West  Point  cliques.  In  their 
lingo,  heroes  like  Kearney,  like  Hooker  and  Heint- 
zchnan,  all  such  are  superciliously  mentioned  as 
only  JigJiting  generals.  0,  unfighting  strategians  ! 

Stuart's  brilliant  raid  was  executed  the  day 
of  McClellan's  bombastic  proclamation  about  his 
having  cleared  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  of  the 
the  enemy.  On  the  same  day  McClellan  and 
other  generals  straggled  about  the  country,  visiting 
cities  hundreds  of  miles*  distant  from  the  camp. 
And  such  generals  complain  of  straggling  !  Make 


298  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

the  army  fight !  inspire  with  confidence  the  soldier 
—  then  he  will  not  straggle. 

The  Evening  Post,  October  13,  demonstrates  that 
up  to  this  day  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration  is  "  a 
grand  and  brilliant  success."  Well,  de  gustibus 
non  cst  dispulandum.  Others  may  rightly  think 
that  the  achievements  enumerated  by  the  Evening 
Post  are  exclusively  due  to  the  people  ;  that  by  the 
people  they  were  forced  upon  the  administration, 
(Stanton  and  the  navy  excepted  ;)  and  that  the 
numerous  failures,  the  waste  of  human  life,  of 
money,  and  of  time,  arc  to  be  logically  and  directly 
traced  to  the  administration.  0,  subserviency  ! 

The  McClellanites  are  indignant  against  the 
Pennsylvanians  for  not  having  caught  Stuart  and 
his  three  thousand  horse.  Bravo  !  And  what  is 
the  army  for?  and,  above  all,  what  are  the  so  ex 
pensive  commander  and  his  staff  for  ? 

It  is  perhaps  natural  that  many  from  among  the 
republican  leaders  attempt  to  prop  up  the  reputa 
tion  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  administrative  capacity,  to 
kindle  a  halo  around  his  name,  and  to  sponge  the 
waste  of  blood,  of  means,  and  of  time,  from  the 
tracks  of  his  Seward-Scott-Blair  administration  ; 
but  stern  historical  justice  shall  not,  and  cannot, 
do  it. 

Whatever  be  the  high  military  and  scientific 
prowess  shown  by  the  first  West  Point  graduates 
and  scholars,  all  this  in  no  way  compensates  for  the 
summum  of  perverted  notions  which  are  reared 
there,  and  for  the  uiock,  sham,  and  clownish  aris- 


OCTOBER,  1862.J  DIARY.  299 

tocrncy  by  which  a  high-toned  West  Pointer  is 
easily  recognized.  Of  course  many  and  many 
are  the  exceptions  ;  many  West  Point  pupils  are 
animated  by  the  noblest  and  purest  American 
.-pint  ;  but  the  genuine  West  Point  spirit  consists 
in  sneering  and  looking  down  with  contempt  at  the 
mother  and  nurse;  that  is,  at  the  purely  republi 
can,  purely  democratic  political  institutions,  at  the 
broad  political  and  intellectual  freedom  to  which 
those  clown-aristocrats  owe  their  rearing,  their  lit 
tle  bit  of  information,  and  those  shoulder-stripes  by 
which  they  arc  so  mightily  inflated. 

What  silly  talk,  to  compare  the  St.  Domingo 
insurrection  with  the  eventual  results  of  emancipa 
tion  in  the  South !  In  St.  Domingo  the  slaves  were 
obliged  to  tear  their  liberty  from  the  slaveholding 
planter,  and  from  a  government  siding  with  the 
oppressor.  Here  the  lawful  government  gives 
liberty  to  a  peaceful  laborer,  and  the  planter  is  an 
outlawed  traitor.  But  the  genuine  pro-slavery 
democrat  is  stupidly  obtuse. 

Oct.  18.  A  few  days  ago  the  President  wrote  a 
letter  to  McClellan,  with  ability  anc^  lucidity,  ex 
posing  to  view  the  military  urgency  of  a  move 
ment  on  the  enemy  with  an  army  of  one  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  men,  as  has  now  McClellan  at 
Harper's  Ferry.  But  the  letter  ends  by  saying  that 
all  that  it  contains  is  not  to  be  considered  by 
McXapoleon  as  being  an  order.  Of  course  Mac 
obeys  —  the  last  injunction  of  the  letter.  Mr.  Lin 
coln  wishes  not  to  hurt  the  great  Napoleon's  feel- 


300  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

ings  ;  as  for  hurting  the  country,  the  people,  the 
cause,  this  is  of  —  no  consequence  !  Ah  !  to  witness 
all  tliis  is  to  be  chained,  and  to  die  of  thirst  within 
the  reach  of  the  purest  water. 

Reverend  Dr.  Unitarian  Sensation's  broad  church, 
admirer  of  the  Southern  gentleman,  and  a  Jeremy 
Diddler. 

Oct.  18.  The  elections  in  several  of  the  States 
evidence  the  deep  imprint  upon -the  country  of 
Lincoln-Seward  disorganizing,  because  from  the 
first  day  vacillating,  undecided,  both-ways  policy. 
The  elections  reverberate  the  moral,  the  political, 
and  the  belligerent  condition  in  which  the  country  is 
dragged  and  thrown  by  those  two  master  spirits.  No 
decided  principle  inspires  them  and  their  administra 
tion,  and  no  principle  leads  and  has  a  decided  ma 
jority  in  the  elections ;  neither  the  democrats  nor 
the  republicans  prevail ;  neither  freedom  nor  submis 
sion  is  the  watchword  ;  and  finally,  neither  the  North 
nor  the  South  is  decidedly  the  master  on  the  fields 
of  battle.  All  is  confusion  ! 

Scarcely  one  genuine  republican  was,  or  is,  in  the 
cabinet ;  the  republican  party  is  completely  on  the 
wane  —  and  perhaps  beyond  redemption  ;  all  this  is 
a  logical  result,  and  was  easily  to  be  foreseen  by  any 
body,  —  only  not  by  the  wiseacres  of  the  party,  not 
by  the  republican  papers  in  New  York,  as  the  Times, 
the  Tribune,  and  the  Evening  Post,  only  not  by  the 
Sumners,  Doolittles,  and  many  of  the  like  leaders, 
all  of  whom,  when,  about  a  year  ago,  warned  against 
such  a  cataclysm,  self-confidently  smiled ;  but  who 


OCTOBER,  1862.J  DIARY.  301 

soon  will  cry  more  bitter  tears  than  did  the  daughters 
of  Judah  over  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem. 

And  now  likewise  the  phrase  in  McClcllan's  order 
No.  163,  about  u  the  remedy  at  the  polls,"  the  dis 
closures  made  by  Colonel  Key,  receive  their  fullest, 
but  ominous  and  cursed,  signification  ;  and  now  the 
blind  can  see  that  it  is  policy,  and  not  altogether  in 
capacity,  in  McClellan  to  have  made  a  war  to  pre 
serve  slavery  and  the  rebels.  And  thus  McClellan 
outwitted  Mr.  Lincoln. 

In  general,  human  nature  is  passionately  attracted, 
nay,  is  subdued,  by  energy,  above  all  by  civic  intre 
pidity.  It  would  have  been  so  easy  for  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  carry  the  masses,  and  to  avoid  those  disasters  at 
the  polls  !  But  stubbornness  is  not  energy. 

From  a  very  reliable  source  I  learn  that  a  few 
days  after  the  battle  of  Antietam,  General  McClellan, 
or  at  least  General  or  Colonel  Marcy,  of  McClellan's 
staff,  insinuated  to  the  President  that  General 
McClellan  would  wish  to  be  relieved  from  the  com 
mand  of  the  army,  and  be  assigned  to  quiet  duties 
in  Washington  —  very  likely  to  supersede  Halleck. 
And  the  President  seized  not  by  the  hairs  the  occa 
sion  to  get  rid  of  the  nation's  nightmare,  together 
with  the  pets  of  the  commander  of  the  army  of  the 
Potomac.  McClellan  acted  honestly  in  making  the 
above  insinuation  ;  he  is  now,  in  part  at  least,  irre 
sponsible  for  any  future  disaster  and  blood. 

Oct.  20.  I  have  strong  indications  that  European 
powers,  as  England  and  France,  are  very  sanguine  to 
mediate,  but  would  do  it  only  if,  and  when,  asked  by 

26 


302  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

our  government.  Those  two  governments,  or  some 
other  half-friendly,  may,  semiofficially,  insinuate  to 
Mr.  Seward  to  make  such  a  demand.  A  few  months 
ago,  already  Mr.  Dayton  wrote  from  Paris  something 
about  such  a  step.  Mr.  Seward  is  desperate,  down 
cast,  and  may  believe  he  can  serve  his  country  by 
committing  the  cabinet  to  some  such  combination. 
I  must  warn  Stanton  and  others. 

In  the  Express  and  in  the  World  the  New  York 
Herald  found  its  masters  in  ignominy. 

More  or  less  mean,  contemptible  ambition  among 
the  helmsmen,  but  patriotism,  patriotic  ambition 
are  below  zero  —  here  in  Washington.  For  the  sake 
and  honor  of  human  nature,  I  pray  to  destiny 
Stanton  may  not  fail,  and  still  count  among  the 
Wadsworths,  the  Wades,  and  the  like  pure  patriots. 

The  democratic  elections  and  majorities  united  to 
Mr.  Seward  may  enforce  a  compromise,  and  God 
knows  if  Mr.  Lincoln  will  oppose  it  to  the  last. 
Then  the  only  seeming  salvation  of  the  north  will 
be  the  indomitable  decision  of  the  rebels  not  to  ac 
cept  any  terms  except  a  full  recognition. 

Oct.  22.  The  incapacity  of  the  military  wise 
acres  borders  on  idiotism,  if  not  on  something 
worse.  To  do  nothing  McClellan  absorbs  every 
man,  and  keeps  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
men  on  the  Maryland  side  of- the  Potomac.  Sigel  has 
only  a  small  command  of  twelve  thousand  men,  in  a 
position  where,  with  one  quarter  of  what  is  useless 
under  McClellan,  with  his  skill,  his  activity,  and  the 
truly  patriotic  devotion  of  his  troops,  of  his  officers, 


OCTOBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  303 

and  of  the  commanders  under  him,  Sigel  would 
force  the  rebels  to  retreat  from  Winchester,  and 
otherwise  damage  them  far  more  than  will  or  can  do 
such  McClellans,  Hallecks.,  and  all  this  c e. 

One  of  the  greatest  misfortunes  for  the  American 
people  is  to  have  considered  as  statesmen  the  rhe 
tors,  the  petty  politicians,  and  the  speech-makers. 
Now,  those  rhetors,  petty  politicians,  and  speech- 
makers  are  at  the  helm,  arc  in  the  Senate,  and  — 
ruin  the  country. 

The  optimists  and  the  subservients  still  console 
themselves  and  confuse  the  people  by  asserting  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  will  yet  come  out  as  a  man  and  a 
statesman.  Previous  to  such  a  happy  change  the 
country's  honor  and  the  country's  political  and  ma 
terial  vitality  will  run  out. 

More  than  a  year  ago  Mr.  Seward  said  to  the 
Prince  Salm  and  to  me,  that  this  war  ought  to  be 
fought  out  by  foreigners  ;  that  the  Americans  fought 
the  revolutionary  war,  but  now  they  are  devoted  to 
peaceful  pursuits  ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  Euro 
peans  to  save  this  refuge  from  the  thraldoms  in  the 
old  world. 

Now,  I  see  that  Mr.  Seward  was  right,  although 
in  a  sense  different  from  that  in  which  he  uttered 
the  above  sentence. 

The  Irish  excepted,  all  the  other  foreign-born 
Americans,  but  preeminently  the  Germans,  are 
more  in  communion  with  the  lofty,  pure,  and  humane 
element  in  the  thus  called  American  principle,  are 
therefore  more  in  communion  with  the  creed  of  the 


304  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

immense  majority  of  Americans,  than  are  they,  the 
present  dabblers  in  politics,  the  would-be  leaders, 
(civil  and  military,)  the  would-be  statesmen,  all  of 
whom  are  eaten  up  by  the  admixture  into  what  is 
vital  and  perennial  in  the  signification  of  America, 
of  all  that  in  itself  is  local,  muddy,  petty,  acci 
dental,  and  transient. 

Oct.  23.  The  recent  publication  of  General 
Scott's  letter,  and  of  a  writing  to  President  Bu 
chanan,  confirms  my  opinion  that  "  the  highest 
military  authority  in  the  land  "  faltered  after  March 
4,  1861,  and  inaugurated  that  defensive  warfare 
wherein  we  stick  on  the  Potomac  until  this  day. 

Pseudo-liberal  right-honorable  Gladstone  asserts 
that  Jeff.  Davis  "  has  made  the  South  a  nation  ;  " 
then  Abraham  Lincoln,  with  W.  H.  Seward  and 
G.  B.  McClellan,  have  destroyed  a  noble  and  gen 
erous  nation. 

England  may  now  recognize  the  South,  France 
may  join  in  it,  but  other  great  European  powers,  as 
Eussia,  Spain,  Prussia,  Austria,  will  not  follow  in 
such  a  wake.  The  recognition  will  not  materially 
improve  the  condition  of  the  rebels,  nor  raise  the 
blockade.  But  as  soon  as  recognized,  Jeff.  D.  may 
ask  for  a  mediation,  which  the  people  —  if  not  Mr. 
Seward —  will  spurn.  An  armed  mediation  remains 
to  be  applied,  wherein,  likewise,  the  other  Euro 
pean  powers  will  not  concur.  An  armed  mediation 
between  the  two  principles  will  be  the  swmmum  of 
infamy  to  which  English  aristocracy  and  English 
mercantilism  can  degrade  itself ;  if  Louis  Napoleon 


OCTOBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  305 

joins  therein,  then  his  crown  is  not  worth  two  years 

lease,  provided  the  Orleans  have 

If  we  should  succumb  under  the  united  efforts  of 
imbecility,  of  pro-slavery  treason,  of  Anglo-Franco- 
European  and  of  American  perjury,  then 

Ultima  ccclcstis  terrain  Astraea  reliquit. 

Oct.  25.  Only  two  or  three  days  ago,  in  a  con 
versation  with  a  diplomat,  Mr.  Seward  asserted  that 
both  the  extreme  parties  will  be  mastered  —  that 
is,  the  secessionists  and  the  abolitionists.  So  Mr. 
Seward  confesses  the  credo  and  the  gospel  of  the 
New  York  Herald,  the  World,  the  Journal  of  Com 
merce,  the  National  Intelligencer,  and  other  similar 
organs  of  secession. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  complications  nat 
urally  generated  by  the  vicinity  of  Cuba  to  Seces- 
sia,  the  Spanish  government,  Count  Serrano,  the 
captain-general  of  Cuba,  and  Tassara,  the  Spanish 
minister  here,  all  have  maintained  the  most  loyal 
relations  towards  the  Federal  government.  It  were 
to  be  very  much  regretted  if  a  drunkard  or  a  brute, 
as  in  the  affair  of  the  Montgomery,  should  disturb 
such  relations. 

Oct.  26.  McClellan-Blair-Seward  tactics  are 
crowned  with  splendid  success.  By  his  simplicity 
Mr.  Lincoln  aided  therein  as  much  as  he  could. 
The  bad  season  is  in  ;  any  successful  campaign 
impossible.  The  rebels  will  be  safe,  and  Gladstone 
justified. 

26* 


306  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

It  is  so  difficult  to  find  out  the  truth  concerning 
Fremont's  campaign  against  Jackson,  that  some 
generalship  may,  after  all,  be  credited  to  him.  At 
any  rate  Fremont  is  a  better  general  than  McClel- 
lan  and  the  pets  in  command  under  him,  and  Fre 
mont  is  with  his  heart  and  soul  in  the  cause,  of 
which  the  McClellanites  cannot  be  accused,  all  of 
them,  their  fetish  included,  having  no  heart  and  no 
soul. 

Old  Europe,  and,  above  all,  official  Europe,  and 
even 'the  Gladstones,  must  be  vindicated.  Official 
Europe  generally  appreciates  nations  by  their  lead 
ers.  Europe  demands  from  such  leaders  actions 
and  proofs  of  statesmanship,  of  high  capacity,  if  not 
of  heroism.  The  attempt  to  astonish  Europe  by 
speeches,  by  oratory,  and,  still  worse,  by  second-rate 
legal  arguments,  by  what  is  called  papers  here,  and 
in  Europe  diplomatic  circulars  and  despatches,  is 
the  same  as  the  attempt  to  eclipse  bright  sunlight 
with  a  burning  candle.  But  our  orators,  and,  above 
all,  Mr  Seward,  flooded  the  European  and  the  Eng 
lish  statesmen  with  their,  at  the  best,  indifferent 
productions.  Official  Europe  was  favored  with  a 
shower  of  three  various  editions  of  papers  relating' 
to  foreign  relations  in  1862,  issued  by  the  State 
Department,  together  with  the  Sanfords,  the  Weeds, 
the  Hugheses,  et  hoc  genus  omne.  Undoubtedly, 
the  traitor  Mason  shows  in  England  more  of  fire 
than  does  the  cold,  stiff,  prickly,  and  dignified  son 
and  grandson  of  Presidents ;  and  then  the  average 
of  our  press  !  0,  Jemima ! 


OCTOBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  307 

Iii  his  circular,  September  22,  to  our  agents  in 
Europe,  Mr.  Seward  belies  not  himself.  The  eman 
cipation  is  rather  coldly  announced,  and  it  is  visible 
that  neither  Mr.  Seward's  heart  nor  soul  is  in  it. 

The  President  has  now  the  most  reliable  informa 
tion  that  when  Corinth  was  invested  by  Halleck, 
the  rebel  troops  were  wholly  demoralized,  and  the 
enemy  was  astonished  not  to  be  attacked,  as  very 
little  resistance  would  have  been  made.  So  much 
for  General  Scott's  gift  in  Halleck. 

The  almost  daily  occurrences  here  long  ago 
would  have  exasperated  the  hot-headed  and 
warm-hearted  nations  in  Europe,  and  treason 
would  have  become  their  watchword.  0  Ameri 
can  people  !  thou  art  warm-hearted,  but  of  unparal- 
lelled  endurance  ! 

No  European  nation,  not  even  the  Turks,  would 
patiently  bear  such  a  condition  of  affairs.  Every 
where  the  sovereign  would  have  been  forced  to 
change,  or  to  modify,  the  personnel  of  his  ministers 
and  advisers ;  and  Mr.  Lincoln  is  in  the  hands  of 
Messrs.  Seward  and  Blair,  both  worse  even  than 
McClellan,  and  —  cannot  shake  them  off. 

Now,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I  realize  why, 
during  the  last  stages  of  the  dissolution  of  the 
Roman  empire,  honest  men  escaped  into  monaster 
ies,  or  why,  at  certain  epochs  of  the  great  French 
revolution,  the  best  men  went  to  the  army. 

Ah !  to  witness  here  the  meanest  egotism,  imbe 
cility,  and  intrigue,  coolly,  one  by  one,  destroy  the 
hor.or  and  the  future  of  this  noble  people.  Curse 


308  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

upon  my  old  age !  above  all,  curse  upon  my  obes 
ity  !  Curse  upon  my  poverty  !  What  a  cesspool ! 
what  a  mire  !  Only  legal  slaughterers  all  around  ! 
0,  could  I  go  td  a  camp  !  but,  of  course,  not  to  one 
under  McClellan.  Sigel's  camp.  Sigel's  men  are 
not  soulless ;  they  fight  for  an  idea,  without  an  eye 
to  the  White  House. 

The  rhetors,  the  stump-speakers,  the  politicians, 
and  the  intriguers  hold  the  power,  and  —  hu 
manity  and  history  shudder  at  the  results. 

Oct.  29.  McClellan,  with  his  wonted  intrepidity 
and  rapidity,  crossed  the  Potomac  from  all  direc 
tions,  pushes  on  Winchester,  and  —  will  find  there 
wherefrom  every  animal  willingly  discharges  itself. 

A  foreign  diplomat,  one  of  the  most  eminent  in 
the  whole  corps,  said  yesterday,  "  No  living  being 
so  ardently  prays  for  rain  as  does  McClellan ;  rain, 
will  prevent  fighting,  marching,  &c."  Such  is  the 
estimation  of  our  hero. 

Fevers  decimated  many  regiments  at  Harper's 
Ferry.  If  McClellan  would  have  marched  only  five 
miles  a  day,  fighting  even  such  battles  without 
any  generalship,  as  he  did  at  Antietam,  the  army 
would  be  healthier,  and  by  this  time  would  be  in 
Richmond. 

The  decision  of  the  court  of  inquiry  between  a 

patriot  and  the  incarnation  of  West  Point  McClel- 

fclanism,   between    Martindale    and   that    Fitz-John 

Porter,  ought  to  open  the  eyes  of  any  one,  but  — 

not  those  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

Only  two  days  ago  Mr.  Lincoln  declared,  that  the 


OCTOBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  309 

reason  why  McClellan  and  his  pets  are  not  removed 
is,  not  any  confidence  in  McClellan's  capacity,  but 
to  preserve  the  political  balance  between  the  repub 
lican  and  the  democratic  parties. 

If  there  exist  such  spiritual  creations  as  provi 
dence,  genii,  or  angels  watching  over  the  destinies  of 
nations,  then,  at  the  sight  of  Lincoln-Se ward-Blair 
doings,  providence,  angels,  genii  avert  their  faces 
in  despair. 

Oct.  30.  New  regiments  coming  in.  It  cuts 
into  the  deepest  of  the  heart  to  see  such  noble  and 
devoted  fellows  going  to  be  again  wantonly  slaugh 
tered  by  the  combined  military  and  civic  ineffi 
ciency  of  McClellan-Lincoln-Seward,  and,  above  all, 
by  their  utter  heartlessness. 

When  the  rebels  invaded  Maryland,  the  fight 
ing  generals,  as  Heintzelman,  advised  to  mass  the 
troops  between  the  rebels  and  the  Potomac,  cut 
them  from  their  bases  and  communications,  push 
them  towards  the  North  without  a  possibility  of 
escape,  instead  of  throwing  them  back  on  the 
Potomac.  Harper's  Ferry  would  have  been  saved. 
Every  progress  made  by  the  rebels  in  a  Northern 
direction  would  have  assured  their  ruin  ;  soon  their 
ammunition  would  have  been  exhausted,  and  sur 
render  was  inevitable.  But  this  bold  plan  of  a 
fighting  general  could  not  be  'comprehended  by 
pets  and  pretorians.  Since,  daily  and  daily  occa-., 
sions  occur  to  destroy  the  rebels  ;  but  that  is  not 
the  game.  Instead  of  cutting  the  rebels  from  Gor- 
donsville  and  Richmond,  which  could  have  been 


310  DIARY.  [OCTOBER,  1862. 

done  any  time  during  the  last  five  weeks  if  Heint- 
zelman  and  Sigel  were  not  so  thoroughly  weakened 
by  an  ignorant,  or  worse,  distribution  of  troops, 
McClellan  with  all  his  might  pushes  the  rebels  back 
to  Richmond,  back  on  their  bases  and  their  re 
sources.  O,  poor  country ! 

Even  I  feel  humiliated  to  continually  ascertain,  by 
various  direct  and  indirect  sources  from  Europe,  in 
what  little  estimation — if  not  worse  —  is  held  our 
administration  by  the  principal  statesmen  and  gov 
ernments  of  the  old  world. 


NOVEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  311 


NOVEMBER,    1862. 

Empty  rhetoric  —  The  future  dark  and  terrible  —  "Wadsworth  defeated  — 
The  official  bunglers  blast  every  thing  they  touch  —  Great  and  holy 
day  !  McClellan  gone  overboard  !  —  The  planters  —  Burnside  —  McClel- 
lan  nominated  for  President — Awful  events  approaching  —  Dictator 
ship  dawns  on  the  horizon  —  The  catastrophe. 

0  GOD,  0  God !  to  witness  how,  by  the  hands 
of  Lincoln-Seward-McClellan,  this  noblest  human 
structure  is  crumbled  —  and,  perhaps,  soon 

Pulverc  vix  tactac  poterunt  monstrare  ruinse. 

May  God  preserve  this  people  —  those  noble  pa 
triots,  of  which  Wadsworth,  Wade,  Potter  of  Wis 
consin,  Stanton,  Governor  Andrew,  and  many  others 
are  the  types,  when  the  country  will  be  ruined  and 
rended  by  the  firm,  Lincoln-Seward-McClellan,  to 
realize  the  pang, — 

Xcssun  maggior'  dolor'  che  ricordarsi  dell  tempo  felice 
Nella  miser ia. 

0, 1  know  what  it  is ! 

Mr.  Seward's  letter,  October  28,  to  Messrs.  Con- 
nover  and  Palmer,  is  a  display  of  that  empty  rheto 
ric  whose  dust  he  is  wont  to  throw  into  the  eyes 
of  the  good-natured  masses.  His  plea  for  united 
action  —  of  course  with  him  —  is  the  most  bitter 
irony  on  himself.  Mr.  Seward's  policy  and  action 


312  DIARY.  [NPVEMBER,  1862. 

are  at  the  helm,  and  he  piloted  "  our  noble  ship  of 
state"  on  worse  breakers  than  those  "  of  eighteen 
months  ago." 

Mr.  Seward's  letter  is  dumb  on  the  object  of  the 
Cooper  meeting.  Of  course,  Mr.  Seward  would 
rather  swallow  a  viper  than  applaud  the  abolition 
of  slavery. 

Nov.  5.  Lincoln-Seward  politically  slaughtered 
the  republican  party,  and  with  it  the  country's 
honor.  The  future  looks  dark  and  terrible.  I 
shudder.  Dishonor  on  all  sides.  Lincoln  will  not 
understand  to  use  the  lease  of  power  left  to  him  — 
or  to  fall  as  a  man.  But  to  be  candid,  most  of  the 
thus  called  leaders  prepared  this  defeat,  and  most 
of  them  at  the  last  moment  may  lack  decision  and 
dignity.  How  repeatedly  I  warned  the  Sumners, 
Wilsons,  and  other  wiseacres,  that  such  will  be  the 
end,  that  the  people  at  large  will  become  exasper 
ated  by  Lincoln's  administration ! 

The  issue  brought  before  the  people  was  all  but 
dignified.  It  would  have  been  better  to  make  a 
straightforward  issue  against  the  incapacity  and  the 
democratic  ill-will  of  McClellan,  than  to  dodge  the 
question,  and  force  honest  and  noble  men  to  speak 
against  their  convictions.  The  issue,  as  made,  was 
concocted  by  journalists,  by  politicians;  but  not 
by  statesmen,  not  by  genuine  great  leaders. 

Seward  triumphs.  His  insincerity  preeminently 
contributed  to  defeat  Wadsworth.  Mephisto-like, 
he  rejoices  in  thus  having  humbled  the  pure  and 
radical  patriots. 


NOVEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  313 

At  any  rate,  I  shall  try  to  expose  Seward.  Arrive 
que  pourra.  But  for  him  the  sacred  cause  would 
have  been  victorious,  and  now  —  horror!  horror! 

The  pro-Romanist  clergy  is  more  furiously  and 
savagely  pro-slavery  than  are  the  Rhetts,  the  Yan- 
ceys,  in  the  South ;  the  poor  Africo-Americans  are, 
if  not  the  truest  Christians  in  this  country,  at  any 
rate  their  Christianity  is  sublime  when  compared 
with  the  pro-Romanism. 

0,  for  civic  intrepidity,  or  all  is  lost !  High-minded, 
intrepid,  self-forgetful  civism  and  abnegation  alone 
can  avert  the  catastrophe.  Such  is  the  mass  of  the 
people  — but  its  leaders-! 

Nov.  8.  Hooker  has  the  military  instinct  in  him 
which  lights  the  fire,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  god  of 
battles  ;  as  Halleck  has  nothing  of  the  one  and  of  the 
other,  and  as  Mr  Lincoln  is  —  Mr.  Lincoln,  so 
Hooker  is  not  to  be  put  in  command  of  the  army. 
Lincoln  and  Halleck  will  find  out  their  man.  Similis 
simili  gaudet,  or,  przywitala  sie  dupa  z  wiechciem. 

Nov.  9.  The  official  bunglers  have  blasted  every 
thing  they  touched  :  the  people's  virgin  enthusiasm 
and  unparalleled  devotion ;  they  have  endangered 
the  country's  safety.  It  is  to  hope  for  a  miracle  to 
expect  any  thing  for  the  better  at  the  hands  of  the 
bunglers.  Will  the  shallow  rhetors,  will  the  would- 
be  leaders  in  the  Congress,  be  as  subservient  to  the 
bunglers  as  they  have  been  up  to  this  hour  ? 

Nov.  9.  Great  and  holy  day !  McClellan  gone 
overboard !  Better  late  than  never.  But  this  be 
lated  act  of  justice  to  the  country  cannot  atone  for 

27 


814  DIARY.  [NOVEMBER,  1862. 

all  the  deadly  disasters,  will  not  remove  the  fearful 
responsibility  from  Lincoln-Seward-Blair,  for  hav 
ing  so  long  sustained  this  horrible  vampire.  Now 
is  Seward's  turn  to  jump. 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  in  justice  to  the  average 
of  the  better  class  of  planters,  that  the  superficial, 
sociable  intercourse  with  them  is  more  easy,  and 
what  is  commonly  considered  more  European,  than 
is  similar  intercourse  with  any  corresponding  class 
in  the  North.  Therein  consists  the  whole  attraction 
exercised  by  the  Southerners  on  Europeans  visiting 
America  —  the  diplomats  included.  I,  for  one,  am 
always  uneasy,  anxious,  as  if  touching  hot  iron, 
when  in  intercourse  here  with  men  with  whom  I  am 
very  intimate,  (on  the  outside,)  and  who  now  are  in 
power.  I  never  felt  so  out  of  the  track  when  — 
once  —  in  intercourse  with  sovereigns,  and  with  emi 
nent  men  in  Europe. 

Nov.  11.  General  Burnside  succeeds  to  McClel- 
lan  —  gives  a  military  ovation  to  his  predecessor. 
In  his  order  of  the  day,  Burnside  pays  homage  to 
McClellan,  and  thus  implicitly  condemns  the  gov 
ernment.  Burnside  permits  McClellan  to  issue 
such  a  parting  word  as  must  shake  the  army  and 
the  country. 

Nov.  12.  The  democrats  nominate  McClellan  for 
the  next  presidency.  Thus  Mr.  Lincoln's  helpless 
ness,  Seward's  hatred  of  the  republican  creed,  the 
treason,  the  imbecility,  the  intrigues  of  various  oth 
ers,  the  lack  of  civic  energy  in  the  New  York  repub 
lican  press  and  in  the  republican  politicians,  except 


NOVEMBER,  1862.]  DIARY.  315 

some  repeatedly  mentioned  in  this  Diary,  —  all 
this  combined  has  built  up  a  pedestal  for  such  a 
McClellan  ! 

Strange  and  awful  events  may  occur  even  before 
the  end  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration.  The  dem 
ocratic  leaders  are  perverse,  unprincipled,  reckless, 
daring  beyond  conception  ;  success  is  their  creed,  and 
no  conscience,  no  honor  restrain  them ;  and  in  the 
management  of  the  public  opinion  and  of  their  party 
the  democrats  have  evidenced  a  skill  far  above  that 
of  the  republican  leaders ;  further,  the  democrats 
evoke  the  vilest,  the  most  brutish  passions  dormant 
in  the  masses ;  the  democrats  are  supported  by  all 
that  is  brutal,  savage,  ignorant,  and  sordid  ;  and,  to 
crown  and  strengthen  all,  the  democrats,  united  to 
Romanist  priesthood,  rule  over  the  Irishry. 

And  thus  the  relentless  hatred  with  which  the 
democrats  persecute  any  elevated,  noble,  humane 
aspiration  ;  the  helplessness,  the  incapacity  of  the 
official  and  unofficial  leaders  of  the  republican  party : 
both  these  agencies  combined  may  deal  such  a  blow 
to  the  pure  and  humane  republican  creed  that  it 
may  not  recover  therefrom  during  the  next  twenty- 
five  years. 

To  sum  up,  — 

Dictatorship  with  Me  Cleltan  seems  to  dawn  upon 
the  horizon  ;  the  smallest  disaster  —  Burnside,  ah  ! 
—  will  precipitate  the  catastrophe.  I  pray  to  God 
(and  for  the  first  time)  that  I  may  be  mistaken. 


I 


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AUG    H97743 
TT~ 
APR  01 1991 


*/*.f 


JUN    4  KtU'u 





REC.CIR.  M2  2  '80 


MQ\j  2  RECEIVED  BY 


JAN     4  1382 


CIRCULATION  DEPT. 


LD2i^A-40m-8,'75  General  Library 

(87737L)  University  of  California 

Berkeley 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


